The Lancaster Boy’s Rally To Defeat Wren, 61-57, In The Upper State AAAA Basketball Finals
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Florence—After trailing Wren, 31-28, at the half, Lancaster (26-1) rallied to win a hard-fought game in the AAAA SCHSL upper state finals with a 61-57 lead at the final buzzer.
Lancaster will now prepare to play North Augusta on Friday in the Florence Civic Center at 4 p.m. in the SCHSL AAAA gold medal round. North Augusta beat Wilson to advance.
After the hard-fought win Lancaster head coach Jerrod Cathern said, “We have a very disciplined group of players, a very dedicated group, and a very smart group of basketball players,” said Coach Jerron Cauthen. “Over 90 per cent of our players on this team have a 4.0 or better GPA. We have a student first, player second attitude.
“I was told by a coach once that you win with character, not characters,” said Coach Cauthen. “We could have folded several times tonight with some of the calls that didn’t go our way, and shots not falling, but our guys hung in there and found a way to win. I am very excited for our kids who found a way to win.
“My halftime thoughts were that we had to play deeper with our starting five,” said Coach Cauthen. “We also worked better at cutting off their give and go lanes they had scored some baskets on in the first half.”
Coach Cauthen also praised the play of Queens College bound senior Jordan Watford who led Lancaster 25 points in the game. “He showed why he is the number one player in the state in my opinion,” said Coach Cauthen. “He has a high basketball I-Q and a 4.9 GPA as an honor student in the class room. He knows how to play the game and as he goes the team goes.”
Behind’s Watford’s 25 points the Bruins were also led by senior Jacarey Ballard’s 10 points while Columbus parker and Niquan White contributed 15 and 14 points respectively. RJ Brown had five points and Malik Tinsley scored four points for the victorious Bruins.
Wren is head coached by 42-year coaching veteran Fran Campbell.
The Hurricanes were led by senior leader Brock Cherry with 22 points. Leading scorer on the season Abijah Franklin was hurt by foul trouble all game and he finished with 14 points after coming into the game with a 32.4 points per game average. Rhett Warga contributed 13 points while Beau Brannon and Ethan Harkness scored six and two points respectively.
Wren took a 20-9 lead after the first period as Cherry scored 8 points in the first period on a running jumper, a free throw, a lay-up and a three- point shot from way down-town with 3:34 left that gave Wren a 12-4 lead with 3:34 left in the opening period.
Lancaster rallied in the second period as Watford scored 11 points including a monster dunk late in the quarter that cut the deficit to 27-26. With the score tied at 28 Warga hit a three-point shot at the half-time buzzer for Wren to give his team a 31-28 lead at the break.
In the second half Franklin got into foul trouble for Wren and he spent some time on the bench. Both teams went into the final period tied at 47 each. The difference in the game was the fact Lancaster made 12-of16 free throws in the game, 8 coming in the final period.
