Denmark-Olar’s Boys Defeat Bethune-Bowman, 63-49 To Advance To Class A Boys’ Basketball Finals
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Florence—Denmark-Olar’s two senior all-star players produced 39 points (Terrence Hinton & Joshua Goodman) in leading the Vikings over Bethune-Bowman, 63-49 in the Class A lower state basketball finals at the Florence Civic Center on Thursday.
Denmark-Olar now has the challenge of playing upper state champion Abbeville who defeated CA Johnson 58-46 for the state Class A boy’s title to be played at 4 p.m. on March, 6 at the Florence Civic Center.
After the game, veteran head Denmark-Olar coach Hercules Davis shared his thoughts. “They came hitting some outside shots, and we changed up our defense to a 2-3 early, when they hit some early outside baskets, and our team made that adjustment very well,” said coach Davis. “We were able to break their press by putting our man in the middle and that allowed us to pick them an apart.
“Their big guy (6-3 Terreance McFadden) tried to pound-pound us down low and while he was effective some, when he did miss, we were able to rebound and push the ball down the court quickly for transition baskets,” said Coach Davis. “Our top two scorers today are our all-star players (Joshua Goodman & Terrence Hinton) and they provide a lot of senior leadership to the team.
“We last won a state title in 1991 and we last won a lower state title in 2006,” said Coach Davis. “It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make it to a state final. The players also have to be willing to learn from their coaches and buy into the game plan and the team goals.”
Bethune- Bowman head coach Charles McCray talked with the HSSR after the game, “We had a good season, and we just did not get the points today when we needed them. We had a good run in the third period, but we could not sustain the momentum we had gained, and we could not execute the game plan like we had hoped.
“I told the players at half-time that the game was on the line in the third quarter, and the team would win who wanted it more,” said Coach McCray. “We cut it down to one possession but we just could not turn the corner.
“We will miss our three key senior players (Bryson Robinson, Kaden Woods, & Christopher Young) but we will build next season around McFadden,” said Coach McCray. “We lost in the finals last season and we will just stay focused and keep building the program.”
Denmark-Olar built a 14-7 lead after the first period behind Hinton’s six points and five points by Goodman, who made a three-point shot from the next zip code with 30.5 seconds left in the period to make it a 14-7 lead.
In the second period the Vikings out-scored Bethine-Bowman 11-8 to take a 25-15 lead into the half. Hinton and Goodman each had 11 points at the break.
Bethune Bowman won the third period 20-19 to close the deficit to 44-35 entering the fourth period. McFadden was a force inside for the Mohawks in the third period when he scored six points and made several key rebounds.
However, the Vikings used a strong defense and they made most of their late free throw’s chances to win the game 63-49 with a strong finish.
Bethine-Bowman was led in scoring by McFadden who had 15 points and 9 rebounds in the game. Woods contributed 14 points and Bryson Robinson had 13 points.
Behind Hinton’s 20 and Goodman’s 19 points came 8 points from Nyheem Brimfield.
