Spring Valley brings close to Carolina Forest’s basketball season

CAROLINA FOREST -- Carolina Forest’s season looked to be over long before it actually was Wednesday night in the first round of the Class AAAA boys basketball playoffs.

The Panthers trailed Spring Valley by 18 points midway through the third quarter and were mustering little offensively with just 25 points against an aggressive zone defense.

The Region VI-AAAA champions weren’t ready to give up on their season just yet, however.

A spirited run cut the deficit to two points with 5 minutes to play, but the Panthers were unable to ride the momentum out and fell 74-59.

“This is a tough one to swallow as a senior, but it had to end sometime soon,” said Jarvez Holmes. “We set the bar high for the underclassmen to see if they can take it and get past the first round. Being region champs, to end it off on that note [was positive].”

Though the Vikings (13-11) finished fourth in region IV-AAAA, they lost three combined games to region runner-up Richland Northeast and third-place Ridge View by three points or less or in overtime, and fell twice to defending state champion Irmo.

Carolina Forest (16-7) struggled early against Spring Valley’s aggressive pressuring and trapping 2-3 zone defense and faced a 15-4 first-quarter deficit. The Panthers hesitated, picked up their dribble at times and didn’t move the ball as well as they would have liked against the longer and more athletic Vikings.

“We were looking and thinking too much instead of reacting,” said Panthers coach Brian Brunson said. “That’s a great group there; they play well together defensively.”

Carolina Forest (16-7), which won the Region VI-AAAA title for the second time in four years under Brunson, cut the 18-point deficit to two with a 26-10 run.

Brunson’s son, freshman Will Brunson, ignited the run with three 3-pointers in less than two minutes in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 13 points. Two free throws by both Ryan Yurachek and Harold Atkinson, and a short jumper off the glass by Atkinson cut the deficit to seven points.

The Panthers helped themselves by going 9-for-10 from the free throw line in the run, and Aaron Williams closed it with the final seven points on a put-back, three free throws and layin following Robert Gray’s rebound of a missed Williams’ free throw.

“It’s just been a team effort all year. I can’t say enough about these kids,” coach Brunson said. “… They’ve given me everything they had and that’s all a coach can ask. I’m proud of my guys. They never quit all year long.”

The Panthers seemingly had the momentum, but freshman Perry Dozier Jr., the son of the Vikings coach, regained control of the game for Spring Valley, which closed the game with a 21-9 run.

Dozier Jr. hit a pull-up 3-pointer just 15 seconds after the Panthers cut the deficit to two points, then added a pair of free throws and found Christopher Griffin with a no-look pass for a layin on the break to help push the lead back to seven points.

“To have guts like that as a freshman – and he just turned the ball over down there – to come back down and take that big shot was big, and I think it was a big turnaround,” said Dozier Sr., a former USC Gamecock. “… His IQ for the game is really high and for the most part he makes great decisions.”

The lead was pushed to 11 points with 2 minutes remaining. Gray hit a 3-pointer and three free throws to cut the deficit to six points with 1:30 remaining, but that’s as close as the Panthers would get down the stretch.

•  SPRING VALLEY (74) – Perry Dozier Jr. 16, Austin Beamus 16, Devante Brooks 14, Dominique Taylor 11, Jonathan Golden 6, Christopher Griffin 5, Richard Taylor 4, Jamil Tabom 2.

• CAROLINA FOREST (59) – Aaron Williams 14, Will Brunson 14, Robert Gray 13, Ryan Yurachek 6, Johnny Plump 4, Jarvez Holmes 4, Harold Atkinson 4.

• 3-point goals: Spring Valley 3 (Dozier 2, Beamus); Carolina Forest 6 (Brunson 4, Gray, Williams). Team fouls: Spring Valley 19, Carolina Forest 24. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.

• Records: Spring Valley 13-11, Carolina Forest 16-7.