North Myrtle Beach boys run past St. James

Maurice Finch sparked about as good of a region opener as North Myrtle Beach coach Cameron Koehler could have hoped for.

The Chiefs had lost four of five between their appearance in the Shootout By The Sea tournament in December and their final two non-region games. On Monday against St. James, though, it appeared the team took something out of what Koehler called those early “lumps” by winning 62-46 to begin Region VII-AAA play.

“We’re still young, especially at the guard position,” Koehler said. “We’re still learning. We’re still taking lumps as we go. The games we’ve played in the last few [weeks], even though we’ve lost a few of them, we’ve gotten better and better and better.”

Behind Finch, the team’s 5-foot-9, 165-pound point guard, it certainly looked that way. The sophomore finished with 18 points, and he keyed a fast-paced second half in which North Myrtle Beach outscored the Sharks 41-23.

He scored plenty, but he also made sure the rest of his teammates had open looks off missed St. James shots or turnovers.

“That’s one of the biggest things we had to do was stop them from getting to the basket,” St. James coach Monty Carr said. “When they made their biggest run, we didn’t. They kept getting layups and fast-break opportunities.”

The Sharks got a game-high 21 points from senior guard Jackson Hurston, who made six 3-pointers, and another 10 from Jordan Fields. But it paled to what Finch and his teammates did.

Forward Josh Livingston added 17 points and Chris Johnson had 13 of his own, allowing North Myrtle Beach to eliminate any doubt of the victory late in the game.

The win also continued the turnaround for a Chiefs team that started 3-8, including a 1-4 start to the season while Livingston was serving a five-game suspension. While the dynamic scorer was out, it gave the team’s backcourt more in-game reps.

All of a sudden, a Chiefs team that most did (and probably still) expect to revolve around the 6-foot-7 Livingston also has another element that could make it dangerous moving forward. North Myrtle Beach will have to play region favorite Wilson on the road on Friday.

Like most of the other teams, particularly Myrtle Beach and Georgetown, Wilson features a guard-heavy lineup that will likely press the issue. It’s something that probably worries the Chiefs slightly less after winning the region opener.

“We like running the ball, getting down the floor on fast breaks,” said Finch, who averaged 7.8 points per game prior to Monday. “We like getting the ball to guys who can make plays.”

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 8:48 PM with the headline "North Myrtle Beach boys run past St. James."