AIKEN 54, SOUTH AIKEN 41
Aiken’s boys’ basketball team used its defense to flip the momentum in the second half of Friday’s rivalry matchup with South Aiken and lead it to a 54-41 win.
“We’re a gritty team right now. We defend, rebound, and that’s kind of what we’ve been embracing here lately,” said Aiken head coach Darris Jackson. “We just didn’t finish well in the first half, and I thought we did a little bit of that in the second half.”
The Thoroughbreds (10-6, 3-2 Region 4-AAAA) controlled much of the early going of Friday’s matchup and led 9-6 at the end of the first quarter and 20-17 at the half.
The Hornets (17-1, 5-0) flipped a switch in the second half, however, and came out with a different intensity on defense.
They got things going with a chase-down block by Calvin Mathis midway through the third quarter, which sparked an 18-6 run to give Aiken a 43-32 lead early in the fourth.
Aiken kept up its pressure on the defensive end from there, often leading to easy points in transition and in the paint.
“We just keep plugging away, and we stay in front of folks and keep contesting every shot and keep rebounding, and we’re going to get opportunities to score in transition and to get some easy ones inside and that’s kind of what happened,” said Jackson.
South Aiken head coach Michael Prandy added that the defensive effort from Aiken in the second half changed the contest.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well late and they finished real well, so that’s not a good combination,” he said. “I always say you’ve got to disrupt what the other team is doing, and that’s kind of what they did to us. Once you get out of synch, sometimes it’s hard to get back in synch.”
Aiken’s Jordan Lytes led all scorers with 16 points. Mathis added 12, and Kevin Williamson chipped in nine.
Antonio Bussey led the Hornets with 10 rebounds, while Bryson Harley did a little of everything, scoring six points and notching five rebounds, five blocks and three steals.
Melvin McKie led South Aiken with 14 points, while Cincere Scott added 10 of his own.
South Aiken 9 11 10 11 — 41
Aiken 6 11 18 19 — 54
South Aiken (10-6, 3-2): Melvin McKie 6 0-0 14, Cincere Scott 3 2-2 10, Dra Patterson 3 2-4 6, Davionne Burnette 2 1-2 5, Umonte Green 1 0-0 2, Damar Johnson 1 0-4 2.
3-pointers: McKie (2), Scott (2).
Aiken (17-1, 5-0): Jordan Lytes 5 6-10 16, Calvin Mathis 3 6-12 12, Kevin Williamson 4 1-1 9, Antonio Bussey 2 3-4 7, Bryson Harley 3 0-0 6, Maison Hall 1 0-0 2, George Williams 0 2-2 2.
SOUTH AIKEN 37, AIKEN 21
South Aiken’s girls’ basketball team got out to an early lead Friday against Aiken and never looked back on its way to a 37-21 win.
“It was a big game, rivalry game; we knew what we had to do,” said South Aiken head coach CaraLynn Williams. “We had a slow start last game, and we knew that we had to jump out early and be aggressive defensively in order to get the game going in our favor early.”
The Thoroughbreds (7-11, 2-3 Region 4-AAAA) led 14-6 after the first quarter and 19-11 at the half.
The Hornets (3-14, 0-5) were able to get as close as five points at 24-19 late in the third quarter and again at 26-21 early in the fourth, before the T-Breds rolled off 11-consecutive points for the runaway win.
“Hopefully, we gained the momentum we needed in order to know what we need to do not only tonight against Aiken High but also throughout the rest of the region,” said Williams.
South Aiken’s Aysha Scott led all scorers with 18 points. Alanna Stapleton added seven points to help pace the T-Breds.
Destiny Mays led Aiken with nine points, while Zymbraya Corley added eight of her own.
