Hilton Head Christian's Brown believes future is bright for boys basketball team

           Bluffton – The Hilton Head Christian Academy boys basketball team only won a quarter of its games, posting a 6-18 overall record. That is something that second-year head coach Bryan Brown isn’t satisfied with, but he’s sees progress being made.

           “It was an up-and-down year,” Brown said. “We had a lot of problems with injuries. But the guys fought hard and had a season with measurable growth.”

           The Eagles finished with a 2-8 record in SCISA Region 3-AAAA. That was good enough to get them in the state tournament, but they lost to Hammond 70-58 in the first round.

           Hilton Head Christian had two players selected to the Region 3 All-Region team. They were junior Jake Wood and senior Finn Ussery.

           Wood almost averaged 20 points a game, coming up just short at 19.7 points per game. Along with leading the Eagles in scoring, Wood also led in rebounding at 5.9 and steals at 2.0.

           Ussery also scored in double figures, finishing with a 12.2 average. He also averaged 3.6 rebounds.

           Ussery is joined in the senior class by Thomas Gehm, Killian Gibson, Maddox Norcross and Ethan Maloney. Each of them made significant contributions, at the very least in terms of minutes played. Norcross averaged 4.9 points and Gibson 3.5.

           A couple of sophomores who played well this season are Brennan Steiner and Sam Strum. Steiner led Hilton Head Christian in assists with a 2.4 average,, and he scored at a 3.6 clip. Strum averaged 5.4 points and 4.4 rebounds.

           Two other sophomores who saw significant time were Chase White and Davis Taylor. White averaged 4.0 points and 2.9 rebounds, while Taylor averaged 2.5 points and 3.6 rebounds.

           With a good corps of young players returning who saw plenty of minutes, Brown feels HHCA has the opportunity to get good really quick.

“I feel like we’re in a good spot,” Brown said. “If our young guys and our returners stay bought in and trust the process, their time is coming.”

           SISSY THOMPSON GIRLS HOOPS ALL-REGION PICK

           Hilton Head Christian girls basketball player Sissy Thompson was named to the All-Region team. The sophomore averaged 12 points and nine rebounds a contest.

           It was a long season for the Eagles, who finished with a 1-19 overall record. However, first-year head coach Matt Payton believes better things await, sooner rather than later.

           “We had a really young team this year,” Payton said. “Over half of our team were freshmen (six of the 13 along with one eighth-grader). We are looking to rebuild our program and there will be some bumps along the way.

           “The girls worked hard and improved throughout the year.”

           Before winning just four games in the 2024-25 season, Hilton Head Christian had won six consecutive state championships. The first four were under Kenny Conroy while the final two came under the tutelage of Bobby Thompson.

           RECLASSIFICATION DOESN’T EFFECT HILTON HEAD CHRISTIAN

           While SCISA had its biannual reclassification shakeup, it will have no effect on what level the Hilton Head Christian athletic teams will be playing.

           The school’s football team will continue to compete at AAA while all of the other sports will be part of the AAAA classification.