South Mecklenburg beats Clover on Day 1 of Border Classic basketball showcase
South Mecklenburg pulled away from Clover in its 71-56 win on the first day of the Border Classic basketball showcase hosted at Independence.
Senior guard Peter Moye led all scorers with 30 points and 14 rebounds for the Sabres, while Clover’s Owen Galeota scored 17 in the loss.
The game was close early, with South Mecklenburg holding a 20-18 lead after the first quarter.
The Sabres outscored the Blue Eagles 22-10 in the second, though, and South Mecklenburg never looked back.
“I challenged the guys on the defensive end and kind of broke it open, and they stepped up to the plate,” South Mecklenburg head coach Chris McDonald said. “Our defensive rebounding wasn’t there at the beginning of the game — it’s hard in these types of games — but I called a timeout, and I challenged them to sit down and focus and really go with what we had.”
Clover had chances to build some momentum, cutting its deficit to single digits in both the third and fourth quarters.
But the Blue Eagles were unable to keep the Sabres out of the paint.
“We didn’t make shots and we allowed them to get easy ones,” Clover head coach Darris Jackson said. “We allowed them to get downhill and get to the paint a lot in the third quarter. That third quarter hurt us a good bit, just not being able to limit their paint touches.”
A key to South Mecklenburg’s victory was its depth. The Sabres played all 13 roster players in the game, and McDonald said that those bench minutes allowed his team to stay fresh and build confidence.
“It actually helps with our first five to eight guys, getting them breathers throughout the course of the game,” McDonald said. “Guys are getting great minutes, six, seven, eight minutes a night, which is able to allow our main guys to get that rest that they need to close out the game.”
The win pushes South Mecklenburg to 9-0, and it will look to extend its perfect season on Day 2 of the Border Classic against Mill Creek (GA) at 2:30 p.m. Clover falls to 3-5 and will look to bounce back on Day 2 against Indepedence at 7 p.m.
Independence (NC) 56, Rockdale County (GA) 36
Independence ended on a 30-16 run to pull away from Rockdale County, 56-36.
Independence maintained a lead for the majority of the game, never trailing in the second half.
With just under four mintues left in the third quarter, the Patriots only held a 26-20 lead as turnovers kept them from pulling away early.
“With us, sometimes we try to do a little bit too much instead of just keeping the game simple,” head coach Preston Davis said. “So I get a little frustrated with that because we’ve shown the ability to make good plays, but we got to be consistent with it. And that’s where growth comes in.”
After a timeout and deciding to run a full-court press, the Patriots hounded Rockdale County on the ball and rode the momentum to a 20-point victory.
“I thought that our defense led to offense,” Davis said. “We created some turnovers, and we were able to get out and get some easy transition buckets. So we get a couple easy buckets going, get a couple steals, that kind of gets everybody going a little bit, and I think the momentum just built from there. We played hard, contested shots, rebounded and then we outlet and just ran the court. Hopefully, we can keep doing that, and we can continue to have the same success.”
Independence climbs to 7-3 with the victory.
Panther Creek (NC) 55, Fort Mill (SC) 52
Fort Mill was outscored 15-7 in the final quarter as Panther Creek came back for a 55-52 win over the Yellow Jackets.
The game was close from start to finish, with neither team able to build a substantial lead.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Fort Mill held a 45-40 lead but was unable to hold on to it. The Yellow Jackets had a chance to tie the game late but were unable to get a shot off.
“Ultimately, we have to make enough plays to win,” Fort Mill head coach Myron Lowery said. “We are super tough physically and mentally. We’re the smallest team that you’ll see. And we were able to compete with that 6-8, 6-9 frontline. And we were in position to win. Our big thing is we have to close games out, and we’re missing just simple things. Free throws. We’re getting to our spots. The plays we’re running, we’re getting exactly what we want. We limited our turnovers tonight, which was good. But at the end, we’re up five going into the fourth quarter.”
Fort Mill has been playing in close games all season long. Its previous game, a 44-41 win over Northwestern, ended on a game-winning buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
This loss marked Fort Mill’s sixth game decided by four points or fewer. The Yellow Jackets are now 3-3 in those contests.
“That’s how we prepare,” Lowery said. “We never prepare like we’re going to get blown out or blow somebody out. We do a ton of late game situations. Even with the last play, we’ve run that before many times in practice. We didn’t really execute it the way it could’ve been, but they knew what we wanted and we got what we wanted, it was just the timing of it was off.”
“(Panther Creek) is a really, really good team. They’re good in North Carolina and South Carolina. They’ve got players, and it’s not enough just to compete with them. We had every opportunity to beat them. We have to beat those really good teams.”
Nas Berry and Darryl Carrington scored 13 points each for Fort Mill.
The Yellow Jackets fell to 6-4 on the season and will face Science Hill (TN) on Day 2 of the Border Classic at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Other Day 1 Border Classic Scores
Hickory Ridge (NC) 65, Dreher (SC) 42
Andrews (SC) 36, East Ridge (TN) 35
Mill Creek (GA) 52, White Oak (NC) 50
Charlotte Catholic (NC) 56, Science Hill (TN) 45
PHOTOS: Clover vs. South Mecklenburg
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 10:39 PM.