Bryan County survived some early foul trouble by its best players and then held on down the stretch to knock off South Effingham, 69-67, last Saturday night for its first win of the season.
Darius Edwards scored 16 points and fellow senior Cayden Rawls added 15 to pace the Redskins (1-1) who played Veterans at Vidalia in a holiday doubleheader on Wednesday night. Aaden Frederick, the lone junior on the team, gave Bryan County a big boost, too, as he scored 12 points.
“It was next man up,” Coach Jason Napier said of his young team which has only three seniors. “Tonight, we got in foul trouble early. Darius and Ger'bravion (Collins) both had three fouls in the first quarter.
“Jordan’s (Carlos) foot was hurting. It was bleeding in the jayvee game from his new shoes. He was out there roughing around and about with a bloody sock. I played three freshmen tonight.”
Carlos is one of seven promising sophomores and he finished with nine points after not scoring in the first quarter. Frederick had seven of his points in the second quarter and sophomore Mari Green had six, all in the second when Edwards and Collins were sitting.
The Redskins will next play when they host McIntosh County Academy in their Region 3A-DII opener on Dec. 2. They’ll play at Portal three nights later.
The Mustangs (1-4) haven’t had a winning season in two decades and Bryan County made sure it wasn’t going to be a victim as it came out firing on all cylinders.
The Redskins, who never trailed, bolted out to a 13-4 lead, led 16-8 at the end of the first period and then hit a double-digit advantage at 25-14 with 5:20 left in the half when Frederick scored five straight points.
South Effingham, down 31-20, had not been able to score consecutive baskets as the Redskins followed up each Mustang score with one of their own. Basketball, though, is a game of runs and to the Mustangs’ credit they didn’t roll over and play dead as Bryan County was asserting itself.
However, the visitors finally had an 8-0 spurt before Carlos broke Bryan County’s drought with 1:27 on the clock. That was the start of an 8-1 blitz capped by the defense getting back-to-back steals for baskets, one by Frederick and the second by Carlos off a steal and feed by Rawls.
Bryan County had its biggest lead of the night, 55-42, with 2:08 to play in the third when Edwards scored five quick points. He made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt and then got a steal and slam dunk on the ensuing inbounds play.
That set up a fourth quarter that turned out to be more dramatic than it should have been.
With 1:41 to play Collins got a steal and a layup for a seemingly safe 68-57 lead but after a time out by South Effingham coach Rico Campbell the Mustangs mounted a rally of their own.
Marcus Campbell twice drove for layups and then with 14 seconds left Braxton Bushatz was fouled by Carlos on a 3-point attempt and he drained all three free throws. Just like that the lead was now 68-65.
Edwards made one of two free throws two seconds later but South Effingham couldn’t get anything to fall until Campbell scored at the buzzer.
