Things Are Looking Up For The Patriots
Fort Dorchester’s Maricious Dawson drives to the rim during a game against Baptist Hill.
By Roger Lee
Contributing Writer
North Charleston – The Fort Dorchester Boys Basketball team is looking for a better finish this season.
The Patriots have suffered through growing pains the last couple of years. They finished 9-17 last season and 13-10 two seasons ago. Region wins have proven hard to come by and the Fort was eliminated from the playoffs during the first round two consecutive years.
However, this season things don’t seem as bleak for the squad, which enters the week with an 11-7 record and ranked 10th for 5A, Division 1.
“We have been young, but those guys who stuck with us are looking to put this team back on the map,” said Fort Dorchester coach Thomas McElveen. “We had a better start than we’ve had the last couple of years. Guys are playing very good defense and sharing the ball. We aren’t selfish and have good attitudes so we are playing together like a family, bonding and jelling and that is why we’ve been successful.”
Senior guard Maricious Dawson is a three-year starter back with leadership skills. He was named to the 2024-25 5A Region 8 Boys Basketball All-Region Team after averaging 12.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game last season.
Senior forward Jaden Polite and senior wing DeOndre Haynes are experienced and taking on leadership roles. The Patriots are also leaning heavily on senior forwards Ty'Quez Jenkins and Peter Burton as well as senior guard Myles Brunson and junior guard Juan Concepcion.
Other members of the team include juniors Jaylen Porter, Dominic Brown, Ryan Simmons and Linster “Bear” Burgess.
“I feel very good about this team,” McElveen said. “I think the key will be our defense.”
The Fort opened region play Jan. 9 by upsetting region rival Ashley Ridge (ranked 6th for Division 1) by a 69-61 margin. The Patriots pressed hard to create turnovers while hitting shots to open up a 12-point first-quarter lead.
“I told the guys we needed to come out with a lot of energy,” McElveen said. “We tend to start slow but I told them if we bring the energy from the start they would fold. We jumped on them and they weren’t expecting us to come out like that.”
Fort Dorchester led 42-29 at the half and 56-44 at the end of the third quarter. Ashley Ridge amped up its aggressiveness in the final quarter to cut the lead to five points, but didn’t hit the shots it needed to close the gap further.
Things didn’t go as well for the Patriots the next week and they lost at West Ashley and at James Island to drop to 1-2 in Region 8-AAAAA.
The Patriots look to get back on track when they host Stall Jan. 20 and make the short trip to region rival Summerville Jan. 23.
Dawson is the team’s current leading scorer, averaging 13.1 points per game. Polite is averaging 11.8 points and Jenkins is averaging 10.3. Concepcion leads in free throws per game and three-point percentage. Dawson, Concepcion and Porter are the assists leaders.
Jenkins leads in rebounds per game (7.9) followed by Dawson (4.4) and Haynes (3.4).
