FORT MILL - The Newberry High School boys' basketball team didn't have the look of an Upper State finalist in its season opener.

Instead, the ‘Dogs looked like a young team playing in its first game of the season.

Newberry committed at least 30 turnovers in a 52-32 loss to Sullivan South (Tenn.) in the first game of the Fort Mill Classic Friday at Fort Mill High School.

The Bulldogs (0-1) lost eight seniors from last year's region championship team, including six guards.

That loss was apparent as Newberry turned the ball over repeatedly, including 13 traveling violations by eight different players.

“There were silly things, just trying to play too fast,” Newberry coach Chad Cary said. “It might be my fault for trying to play too fast, too soon. We'll look at the film and see if we need to slow it down until we get our feet right.”

The ‘Dogs didn't have a single scorer in double-figures and were held under 10 points in each of the four quarters.

Despite the ragged play, Cary isn't overly concerned.

“The guards that we have are very capable of doing what we ask,” Cary said. “but it's going to take some time. We're seeing what we need to work on. We didn't handle the ball well, made some silly turnovers when we tried to do too much. That's easy to fix. You score four times on (the 13 travels), that's eight points and it would be a 12-point game, just on the travels mistakes. The more we play the better we're going to be.”

Neither team looked particularly sharp in the first half, as Sullivan South took a 21-18 lead into the second.

The Rebels opened up the third quarter hot and erupted on a 16-4 run keyed by the deep ball.

Forwards Tyler Ashworth and Dustin Sims each drilled three-pointers from the left corner on inbound sets to ignite the spurt.

“Last year with so many veteran players, we knew when teams inbounded the ball, they were going right back to the man inbounding,” Cary said. “That's something we just haven't had a chance to talk about yet. But that's something we can correct. The mistakes we made were mistakes that are correctable. We're young, but we'll get them right.”

Sullivan South outscored the Bulldogs 20-6 in the third quarter to take a comfortable 17-point cushion into the fourth quarter.

The ‘Dogs were as close as 41-28 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter following a layup by Miles Wilson with six minutes to play in the game.

The Rebels put the game away with an 11-2 spurt.

Jay Jay Suber, Sam Chaplin and Bobby Coleman each finished the game with six points, while Tyronne Tobe added five points.

Point guard Gary Rouse chipped in three points, while Travis Burton, Wilson and Antwan Tribble each had a bucket.

The Bulldogs' tenacious full-court press bothered the Rebels in the first half.

Sullivan South turned the ball over repeatedly in the first couple of minutes, and the ‘Dogs were able to get some early baskets in transition.

The game was tied 9-9 at the end of the first quarter, and the Rebels were able to take advantage of late free throws to take a 21-18 lead into halftime.

Sullivan South hit 5-of-6 from the line in the opening two quarters.

Newberry will open the first full week of the regular season with three games.

The Bulldogs will travel to cross-county rival Whitmire Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. for the first of a home-and-home set and will head to Fairfield Central Wednesday for another non-region contest.

Newberry will wrap up its week on the road at Chapin Friday.

NOTE - Newberry played in the consolation game of the Fort Mill Classic. Results were not reported to The Observer.