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Mincey leads Bryan County boys to 75-68 win
basketball

 It’s obvious Elijah Mincey takes instruction well.

The Bryan County sophomore had his best scoring night of the season last Friday night as he scored 35 points to lead the Redskins to a much needed 75-68 Region 3A-D1 win over Screven County.

 In a 64-61 loss to Groves on Saturday night Mincey added 27 in a game which Coach Brent Anderson said was “probably our best game of the season.”

Anderson said prior to the Screven game he had talked to Mincey and told him, among other things, he had to shoot more.

 “We told him today (Friday) we wanted him to take more shots,” Anderson said. “The thing about him is he’s the most unselfish player we have. He wants to give the basketball up.

   “We told him we needed to get him going and that first quarter started it,” Anderson said. “We kind of got him going and that helps us because that opens things up for everyone else which means they can’t double team him.”

Mincey had 13 points in the first quarter as the Redskins, who beat Screven by 25 points earlier, found themselves trailing by as many as nine points against a hot-shooting Gamecocks team led by Dylan Adams who poured in 29 points.

 “They didn’t have Adams the first game,” Anderson said. “He was playing in an all-star football game.  They’ve got length and with him in there that creates matchup problems for us. They’re capable of playing with a lot of people because of their length.

 “Adams is a good player. He had 36 points a couple of nights ago so we know what he’s capable of doing. His play tonight wasn’t a surprise.”

Senior point guard Jamal Campbell added 16 points and it was his driving layup with four minutes to play that gave the Redskins (8-13, 6-4) their biggest lead of the night, 68-56, with 4:08 to play. Campbell had 10 against Groves.          

 Adams wasn’t the only problem the Redskins had as they committed a season high 27 personal fouls which helped keep the Gamecocks in the game. Tanner Ennis wound up fouling out and Mincey, Jamal Campbell, Devontae Bowers and Justin Beck all finished the game with four personals

 Fortunately, the Gamecocks who led 34-33 at the half and continued to hang tough in third quarter and opening minutes of the fourth, were plagued by poor foul shooting as they made only 18 of 31 attempts.

 The win concluded the Redskins’ region schedule and assured them of a third-place finish and first-round game with Claxton in the region tournament. Bryan County beat the Tigers by 25 and 21 points in two meetings this season. A third win would assure them of a spot in the GHSA state playoffs for the second straight year.

 The game with Groves marked the first of a five-game stretch of non-region games. Next up is a game at Portal on Tuesday followed by road games against Statesboro and Savannah Christian before a Senior Night game with Southeast Bulloch to conclude regular season play.

 “We played two good games this weekend and we’re looking forward to the rest,” Anderson said. “Offensively I’m super happy about what we’re doing. We’ve got to fix some things defensively.”

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