ORANGEBURG, S.C. — A third quarter collapse in second round of the 3A boys basketball state playoffs sent the Bulldogs home for the season. Newberry(11-14, 3-5 region 4-AAA) fell 70-44 to Orangeburg-Wilkinson(17-6, 6-2 region 6-AAA) on Friday, Feb. 20th on the road.
The Bulldogs had to hit the road for about an hour and 15 minutes trip to Orangeburg, S.C. for their second round match-up in a hostile environment. The Bruins were riding high on a four game winning streak which included a blowout home win in the first round over Aynor at home. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs narrowly escape their first round match-up against Waccamaw.
The first quarter and first half was a tug-of-war type game for both teams. Newberry went nearly five minutes at the start of the game without scoring a basket, but their defense kept them in the game. They only allowed six points over that stretch. Senior guard Gavin Brown was finally able to break their cold spell and score the Bulldogs first points of the game.
Brown’s back court mate Kenton Caldwell was able to get going as well and knocked down a huge three-pointer at the buzzer to close out the first quarter. Newberry trailed 10-9 at the end of the opening quarter.
Both teams were able to pick up their scoring in the second quarter. The visiting Bulldogs wasted no time and immediately scored on their first possession of the second period to take their first lead of the game, 11-10. The Bruins answered with a three-pointer to reclaim the lead. The two teams found themselves tied 15-15, and then the home tea, scored back-to-back buckets to give themselves a four point lead.
Jason Dunbar had a quiet first quarter, but was able to make his impact on both ends of the floor in the second quarter for Newberry. The senior forward was able to score four points and come up with two steals in the second quarter. Freshman Neveah Willingham was able to steal a little bit of momentum for the Bulldogs in the closing seconds of the first half with a fast break lay-up.
Newberry found themselves down by just three points at halftime, 25-22. Unfortunately, the game didn’t end at halftime and it was still a second half to be played. The Bruins home court became a house of horror for the Bulldogs in the third quarter.
Sophomore guard Brendan Peoples jump started the incredible third quarter run for the Bruins and an avalanche followed. The home team went on a 7-1 run to start the second half before Newberry was forced to call a timeout. Then, the turnovers kept piling up for the Bulldogs which led to fast break points and they found themselves down 48-27 four minutes into the third quarter.
Newberry also had trouble on the boards. Peoples and 3A player of the year Jordan McGahee both finished the game with 10 rebounds each. The two nearly grabbed more rebounds than the entire Newberry team, which finished with just 28 on the night.
Senior center AJ Jeter scored six of the Bulldogs 12 total points in the third quarter and they found themselves trailing 56-34 going into the final period.
The Bulldogs needed a miracle in the fourth quarter to stage a comeback, but that didn’t happen. The Bruins were able to close the final quarter out very strong and advance to the quarterfinals of the 3A playoffs.
Head coach Adonis Hill embraced all of his seniors as he subbed them out for the final time with about two minutes left in the game.
“Well I don’t think it was the environment. We just ran into a pretty good basketball team, we just really did. You know my seniors did all they could do and I think we were just out matched tonight,” said Hill.
Jeter finished with a team-high of 13 points, Caldwell had eight points, Brown had six points and Dunbar finished with nine points. Despite the great effort for the group of seniors, the third quarter explosion was too much for the Bulldogs to overcome.
“The game plan was to slow the game down, play a zone and hoped they were not hitting jumpers like they usually do. They hit some in first half but in the third quarter they decided to play their sixth man[Kaleb Jamison] some more minutes and he brought energy then that’s where it went downhill for us,” Hill stated.
Newberry will lose six seniors and will look to the youth to help replace that veteran talent as they move back to 2A starting next school year. This senior group will Newberry having made four trips to the playoffs, advance to at least the second round in two of their four seasons, won a region title and finished the year with two winning seasons out of their four years.