Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com

Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com

<p>Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com</p>

Greg Hollis | ghollis@www.newberryobserver.com

NEWBERRY — Newberry High School’s star point guard Darius Elkins’ big night helps them surge past Union County at home on Thursday evening. The Bulldogs(4-8) survives comeback against the Yellow Jackets to win 76-71 at home.

The home team got off to a great start in the first quarter with 13-4 run in the opening minutes. The Bulldogs’ big man Jamel Howse Jr. asserted himself early into the game by dominating the paint. He quickly scored six points and snagged four rebounds in the first quarter.

Newberry had complete control of the opening quarter and held a 26-19 lead heading into the second quarter.

There was no quit in the visitors and they quickly stormed back behind the offensive surge of the sensational senior point guard, Keishawn Gibson. He finished the game as the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer.

Despite the quick comeback from Union County, they still trailed 44-34 at the half.

The Elkins’ show headlined the second half of action. Newberry’s starting point guard scored 21 points in the second half, with 19 of them being scored in the final quarter. The Bulldogs’ senior guard finished with 30 points and a few assists shy of a double-double.

“I really just had to make sure I had the balls in my hands in the fourth quarter. We work on free-throws everyday and I feel like I am the most focused, so I wanted to be the one to take those free-throws. So, I got to have the ball in my hand int he fourth quarter,” said Elkins.

The two squads were tied 51-51 before Elkins threw on his superman cape. He started the quarter off by getting to the basket with ease and making a tough layup over two defenders in the lane. He got a steal on the very next possession and knock down a mid-range jump shot at the top of the key in transition on the fastbreak.

Gibson continued to get into the lane and cause problems for the Bulldogs’ defense but it wasn’t enough. The home team were able to hold on down the stretch and secure the win.

“That’s a good basketball team and they have a real shifty guard in number 10[Gibson] and coach Mitchell Moss does a great job with them. We knew going in that it was going to be a battle for four quarters.They are a resilient and they play hard,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Adonis Hill Our goal was wear 10 out and I think we did that in the end. That was the first time our kids been in that type of situation this year, especially with how young we are. We got five sophomores and the old man[Elkins] here trying to lead them [laughing], but we didn’t flinch.”

Elkins is the only senior on the roster and the Bulldogs needed every single last one of his 30 points since Isiah Glymph ,junior guard and second leading scorer on the team, went down with an injury against Great Falls.

Other players did step up in his absence though. Guard Kenton Caldwell had 14 points, including the a huge three-pointer he made in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to give his team a 54-53 lead. AJ Jeter had 12 points and his fellow big man Jamel Howse Jr. had 14 points. Both players were also dominate on the boards and almost outrebounded the Yellow Jackets whole team by themselves.

“We were really trying to get it tom our bigs and let them score, then come back with our guards Darius, Kenton and Gavin. We did that but didn’t do as much as I wanted too. You probably heard me screaming about that [laughing], but they stuck to the game plan and we pulled it out,” mentioned Hill.

Newberry will be off for a few days and will be back on the court Dec.19 at home to host Chapin. This will be the second time the two teams face each other with the the first being back on Dec.1. The Bulldogs lost that game 64-53 and will look to avenge that on next Tuesday.

Reach Greg Hollis @ 803-768-3117 or on X @TheNBOnews