The Bryan County boys’ basketball team stayed unbeaten on the young season with its 67-46 win over Claxton on Tuesday in Pembroke.
The Redskins (2-0) got a big scoring effort out of Isaiah Tillman, who had 32 points. Malik Bostick and Ja’lyn James each added
12 points.
BCHS got off to a strong start, taking a 15-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. Redskins head coach Randy Cooper said the lead was fueled by opportunistic defense, creating steals that led to layups. However, foul problems caused BCHS’s lead to dwindle, as the visitors trailed by four points, 26-22, at halftime.
In the second half, the Redskins got the man-to-man defense going and got a handle on the foul problems to pull away.
DJ Brewton had 16 points for Claxton, while Tahje Boyd had 14.
RHHS boys
Meanwhile, Richmond Hill High School’s boys’ team went 1-1 in its recent games.
On Tuesday, the Wildcats dropped a 64-58 decision at Liberty County. RHHS (2-2) was down 20-10 after the first quarter. Wildcats head coach Bill Henderson said RHHS went on a run in the second quarter and had the lead at one point, but wasn’t able to hold it and trailed 35-27 at halftime.
Liberty had a distinct advantage at the free-throw line. The Panthers were 17 of 31 on free throws, while the Wildcats were 4 of 10.
“Overall, I was proud of the effort that the guys displayed. Even when things weren’t going our way, they still fought hard until the final buzzer,” Henderson said. “In the end, we had too many turnovers and too many missed opportunities. Any time you are playing a good team like Liberty County, you have to minimize mistakes and capitalize on your opportunities, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that last night.”
Isaiah Hill led the Wildcats with 21 points. Sam James had nine points and five rebounds, and Trey DeLoach had eight points and 11 rebounds. Zane McKenzie had seven points, eight rebounds and five blocks. Andre Walker had eight points, six rebounds and three assists.
On Nov. 24 in Savannah, Hill notched 34 points in RHHS’s 73-58 win over Windsor Forest. McKenzie added 12 points for the Wildcats, while James had nine.
RHHS opens Region 3-AAAAA play by hosting Effingham County on Friday.
“Hopefully, we will be able to use (the Liberty County) game to help prepare us for our region schedule,” Henderson said. “We’ve played solid competition to open the season, and we’ve been able to identify the areas that we really need to improve on in practice.”
BCHS girls
BCHS split its recent games, getting a 48-42 win over Claxton on Tuesday at home, but falling 58-28 to Coffee in the Jeff Davis Classic on Nov. 23 in Hazlehurst.
On Tuesday, Julianne Brown led the Lady Redskins with 22 points and had seven rebounds and three assists. Yasmine Crawford had 10 points,
11 rebounds and three assists. Kaylin Leggett added seven points, three steals and two assists.
“I am happy we came out with the win, but now we have to turn our focus to region play starting Friday,” BCHS head coach Mario Mincey said. “We know Jeff Davis will be tough, but we welcome the challenge.”
Against Coffee, Crawford had 12 points and six rebounds. Leggett added nine points, two assists and two steals. Brown chipped in five points, six rebounds, two steals and three blocks.
Shooting was an issue for BCHS. According to Mincey, the Lady Redskins missed several layups and were 4 of 19 on free throws.
“We came out flat and could not hit shots early,” he said.
RHHS girls
RHHS dropped a close 52-50 decision at Liberty County on Tuesday, despite a huge night from Jamie Bunting.
Bunting had 30 points and six rebounds for the Lady Wildcats (0-3), who were down by 11 points in the second quarter before tying the game at halftime. However, a Liberty County player scored and was fouled with 1.1 seconds left. The free-throw attempt missed and RHHS rebounded, but didn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.
“I am very proud of how hard our girls fought and the improvements they continue to make leading up to region play,” RHHS head coach Sarah Brown said. “We have come up short in the first couple of games, but are right at the finish line. We just have to learn to finish the game.”
Kia Davis had five points, seven assists and five rebounds. Nadia Hernandez added four points.
The BCHS teams are at Jeff Davis on Friday and host Screven County on Saturday. Varsity action begins at 6 each night. Next week, BCHS hosts St. Vincent’s and Benedictine starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
RHHS hosts Effingham County starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday and play at Bradwell Institute starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.