Prep notebook: Area boys basketball teams poised to right ship in region play

Most of the area’s boys basketball teams are eager for an opportunity to right the ship.

So far, they have been hitting icebergs.

Entering the all-important region play this week, local programs Socastee, Georgetown, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, St. James, Aynor, Loris and Waccamaw each have a losing record. Including SCISA program Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach, which is 8-9 overall heading into Friday’s game at Florence Christian, nine of the Grand Strand’s 13 boys programs are still on the wrong side of the ledger.

“I hope that as we get into conference play, many area teams fare very well and always perform well in the state playoffs,” said St. James coach Monty Carr, who also heads the Coastal Basketball Coaches Association. “All it does is make the area look better in basketball. There are a lot of factors that we can’t take into [account]. … It makes it tough to use right now as a measuring stick of teams.”

While some teams are adjusting to heavy losses from last year’s team or dealing with injuries, players in several cases can also point to their competition level. The Sharks can legitimately say they’ve played five top-level teams between a pair of tournaments and some other tricky scheduling.

Other schools’ records were also affected by the likes of the Beach Ball Classic, Panther Classic and Shootout By The Sea tournaments, all of which brought in some elite competition.

If there is a saving grace to all that, barring rare cases that require a deep tiebreaker scenario, nothing to this point matters as far as making the playoffs. Region play will determine all of that, so a couple of well-timed wins in January and February dwarf anything that happened during a dumpster fire in December.

Last year, four local teams entered region play at or below .500 before winning enough down the stretch to earn a playoff berth. Considering that only one team in Region VII-AAA (Lake City at 6-5) came into this week with a winning record, losing early won’t necessarily equate to the same results when it matters most.

“I say it’s too early to tell,” Carr said. “Everything is based on your competition. If you’re playing a weak schedule, you’re going to look good. If you’re playing a strong schedule you’re gonna look bad. Right now, starting region play, having one team with a winning record does show hope. Some of the teams that normally make the playoffs from our conference, they have played a tough schedule. I’m talking particularly about Wilson, Myrtle Beach and St. James.”

GETTING UP AND DOWN

The Green Sea Floyds girls may have a bit more in the tank to compete with its region’s top three teams this time around.

The Trojans have adjusted their pace some, playing to the strength of Tamara Jackson and Quadasia Gillard. The two players are each in the top 10 in the area in individual scoring, and partially as a result, the team is among the best in the state in that category in Class A. Among the teams in the division that have inputted their stats on MaxPreps.com, Green Sea Floyds is third in scoring, averaging exactly 50 points per game through the first 11 contests.

“We have moved to more of a pressure defense, which has allowed us to force more turnovers,” coach Tracy Kienast said. “We’re pushing the envelope quite a bit. … They haven’t really focused too much on [scoring]. Our post players are more excited about the rebounds than the points. But we look to kick it out to the guards and just go with it.”

Still, Green Sea Floyds players are all over the area’s individual spots, too. Jackson is averaging 21.8 points per game, which is the best on the Grand Strand for girls or boys. She’s also leading with 4.3 assists per game, while Gillard’s 14.7 rebounds per contest are also tops in that category.

But Kienast and Co. know it’s going to take their best ball of the season to keep those big totals and wins rolling. Like last year, the Trojans had a solid non-region schedule, going 8-3 with the losses coming against schools from higher classes. That’s how much of the region slate could feel, too, given six combined games against ranked teams Latta and Hemingway and regular region contender Carvers Bay. (Latta and Carvers Bay were the last two Class A Lower State teams remaining last season.)

Green Sea Floyds was 0-6 against those three teams a year ago.

The Trojans will play Hemingway on Tuesday and Carvers Bay on Thursday.

“It gets tough starting this week,” Kienast said. “It’s going to be an interesting week. We’ll see how we do against some of the bigger teams in [Class] A. I hope we can [do well].”

CBCA WEEKLY HONORS

The Coastal Basketball Coaches Association is recognizing two of the biggest schools in the area as its best.

The CBCA, a conglomeration of coaches in Horry and Georgetown counties, kept Conway No. 1 in its local poll, followed by Carolina Forest. The two teams have accounted for 20 combined wins heading into Tuesday’s region openers.

Additionally, the CBCA’s Fab Five for the sixth week of the season includes Duane Moss (Carolina Forest), Justin Busby (Waccamaw), Travis Walter (Loris), Michael Green (Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach) and Wanyae Moore (Andrews).

HTC HOOPS GAME OF THE WEEK

HTC has announced its schedule for its Game of the Week series for local high school basketball. The provider will head to Murrells Inlet this Friday for St. James home doubleheader against Georgetown. Both the boys and girls games will air live on HTC channel 4, as well as a livestream at HTCConnect.com. The games will then re-air the following week multiple times.

Future games including North Myrtle Beach at Myrtle Beach (Jan. 22) and St. James at Myrtle Beach (Jan. 29) will round out the remainder of the month.

The schedule was released immediately after HTC also announced huge numbers with its affiliation with the Beach Ball Classic. During the national tournament between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, a Beach Ball Classic executive revealed that more than 27,000 unique visitors watched at least a portion of the event. In total, people from 49 states (all but Alaska) and 40 countries tuned in for the broadcast.

“It was amazing to see the overwhelming response from fans not only in the United States, but also around the world that made the choice to view some of the best high school basketball online,” Chad Smith, a Classic executive committee member, said in the release. “After 11 years of streaming the events, we are still thrilled to see that thousands of supporters have taken advantage of this unique opportunity made possible by HTC.”

Many of the overseas clicks were credited to military personnel stationed around the world.

SOUTH CAROLINA WRESTLING RANKINGS

Five area wrestling programs were included in the most recent SCMat.com statewide rankings, released Friday.

In Class AAA, St. James (No. 7), North Myrtle Beach (No. 13) and Myrtle Beach (No. 16) made the rankings, while Waccamaw (No. 11) and Aynor (No. 12) did so in Class AA-A.

Individually, athletes from several local schools also earned statewide rankings, as well.

Two St. James standouts, Michael Mewhorter and Aaron Foster, were No. 1 at 145 and 285 pounds, respectively, in the Class AAA rankings.

Chase Smith (St. James, No. 4, 113), Brandon Reisen (North Myrtle Beach, No. 4, 120), Codie Aube (North Myrtle Beach, No. 7, 126), Tyler Wiggins (St. James, No. 4, 132), Reese Woods (Myrtle Beach, No. 7, 138), Ezra Flowers (Myrtle Beach, No. 8, 145), Jordan Manigault (Georgetown, No. 2, 152), Stephen Desjardins (Myrtle Beach, No. 6, 182), Daniel Mitchell (Myrtle Beach, No. 4 195) also earned individual nods in that division.

Carolina Forest’s Christian Coppola (No. 4 at 132 pounds) and Ritchie Kreischer (No. 5 at 195) represented the only Class AAAA individuals among the ranked wrestlers.

The Class AA-A individual rankings were led by Aynor’s Dylan Andrew, who came in at No. 2 for the 106-pound category. Brayden Nobles (Aynor, No. 3, 113 pounds), Dalen Johnson (Aynor, No. 5, 120), Contrel Grate (Loris, No. 5, 152), Alonzo Trent (Waccamaw, No. 7, 160), Timmothy Bell (Loris, No. 4, 170), Jyheem Myers (Loris, No. 7, 285) rounded out the list.

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Prep notebook: Area boys basketball teams poised to right ship in region play."