Williamsburg Boys Basketball Coming Along
By Dennis Brunson
hssr.com Associate Editor
Kingstree – The Williamsburg Academy boys basketball team got off to a pretty good start, winning six of its first 10 games. And when you hear how much time the Stallions got to spend together before starting their season, the record looks even more impressive.
“The state championship game was on Saturday,” Williamsburg head coach Kevin Burrows said in reference to the school’s football team beating Colleton Prep Academy 36-14 for the SCISA Class A state title on November 22. “Monday was our first game (a 55-46 loss to Wilson Hall), so we got to practice for a couple of hours on Sunday.
“We were banged up, but we played. We just got off to a late start. We’re getting to where need to be condition-wise and getting into basketball mode. The first two weeks were kind of rough.”
Six of the players on the 10-man roster were on the football team, and each has played a significant role in the early going. They are junior Charlie Caulder, senior Micah Ballder, junior Al Casselman, junior Marlin Morris, junior Sammy Tomlinson and junior Seth Cherinko.
The leading scorer is junior Ethan Jones, who is averaging around 14 points a game. He is joined in the starting lineup by Caulder, Balder, Casselman and Morris.
Caulder was next in socirng with 10 points and a team leading 7.0 rebounds. Balder was averaging 8.0 points, a team high 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds, while Casselman was averaging 9.0 points and 4.0 steals. Morris was averaging 5.0 points and 6.5 rebounds.
The first two off the bench are freshman Rylan Berrry and Tomlinson. Berry is the sixth man and was averaging around six points a game. Tomlinson, an offensive lineman on the football team, provides some size inside. He was averaging around four points and three rebounds a contest.
Cherinko was averaging three points and two steals. The other members of the team are junior Wyatt Dennis and junior Isaiah Bui.
Burrows admitted that the team’s early success has been a bit of a surprise even to him just because he knows how little practice time the team has actually had.
“Some teams have been together since mid-October,” Burrows said. “We didn’t get together until the middle of November. There were a few games where we were just feeling our way. We had guys who were still banged up from football, and we had a few games slip by us we probably could have won.
“We’re having to get into basketball shape. Basketball is a game where you have to play on both sides of the court. I think we’ll get better and get stronger as the season goes on, both mentally and physically.”
Williamsburg plays in a strong region in Region 3-AAA. The other four teams are defending state runner-up Pee Dee Academy, Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach, which played for a state title two seasons ago, Florence Christian School and Dillon Christian School. Despite that, the Stallions have some lofty goals.
“We want to at least be in the region final,” Burrows said. “We want to win the region and hopefully get into the playoffs. We feel like that’s a realistic goal.”
WILLIAMSBURG GIRLS START 4-9
The Williamsburg girls basketball team won four of its first 13 games. In the early going of the schedule, senior Audrey Wadford was leading the way with a 19.3 scoring average.
Junior Perry Wise was averaging 6.3, sophomore Abby Ward at 5.7, eighth-grader Corrine Kellahan was averaging 4.4, and sophomore Maggie Jones was averaging 3.0.
Other members of the team are senior Sophie Kellahan, junior Shay Carraway, junior Blakely Hundley, sophomore Aleeya Reed, freshman Sophia Jacobs and freshman Avery Belue.
BASEBALL, SOFTBALL UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP
Britton Morris and Jada Cox are a little over a month away from coaching their first games as the respective baseball and softball head coaches for Williamsburg.
Williamsburg will open both seasons on February 24 at home against Calhoun Academy.
Morris takes over for Tyler Boyd, who was the Stallions head coach for 10 years, leading them to a state title in 2022. Morris had been hired to be the junior varsity head coach after having graduated from Columbia International University where he played for four years. When Boyd made the decision to leave for the football head coaching job at Lamar High School, Morris became the varsity head coach.
“I’m feeling great about being back in the swing of baseball,” Morris said. After playing for four years, it’s a lot different being on the other side of the lines, but I feel like I’ve got a lot to bring to the table. Being a first-time head coach, I know there’s not a lot of expectation on us, but we aren’t expecting for the standard to dip for where Coach Tyler had it.
“We want to continue to grow and improve even after losing a few key pieces from last year’s team (which went 19-5). There’s going to be a lot of young guys who have he opportunity to step up as well as some of the veterans who are going to need to step up into a bigger role. Overall, we’ve got guys chomping at the bit to get started, and I’m right there with them.”
Cox takes over for Pat Wildes, who decided to retire after 42 years of coaching, the last several coming at Williamsburg. Cox was the junior varsity head coach last season while helping some with the varsity. She feels that familiarity with the players will help her in her first year in charge of the varsity.
“Normally many new coaches woul be feeling nervous, but not me,” Cox said. “I’m feeling excited and confident about this season. I’m ready to get things rolling on the ballfield.
“I got the opportunity to sit back and watch these girls play last year, and this group of girls have heart and fight, and that’s something that you can’t teach players. That’s what makes me excited.”
