St. James boys rally past Myrtle Beach in second half en route to win

One of the area’s most dangerous players put Myrtle Beach up two points midway through the third quarter. All of a sudden, junior guard Bryce Schneider and the rest of his downtrodden Seahawks had reason to believe their performances were going to start paying off.

It wouldn’t last.

St. James’ trio of backcourt seniors made sure their combined efforts in an early region road game would count. Behind 52 combined points from Jackson Hurston, Jordan Fields and Zach Werba, the Sharks went on a 17-5 run in a seven-minute span of the second half and earned a 65-54 win.

“I have three experienced guards who have been in a whole lot of close games,” St. James coach Monty Carr said. “They do realize that it’s a four-quarter game, and they have not quit on me yet. … They came back with a little bit of intelligence and finished better than they started.”

In the second half, Hurston scored 14 of his 24 points. Fields dropped nine of his 16 and Werba scored seven of his 12 points after the break. In the fourth quarter alone, those three combined for 15 of the team’s 17 points.

The post-break effort did in the Seahawks, who got 14 points from Robert Swanson and Bryce Schneider but were still unable to keep up down the stretch. In the fourth, while the St. James guards were doing their thing, Myrtle Beach was able to muster just nine points.

“I could tell we were going up a little bit because we were stepping up the defensive intensity,” Werba said. “I looked up at that scoreboard at the end of the third going into the fourth and we were going up a little bit.”

The loss dropped Myrtle Beach (3-13 overall) to 0-3 in Region VII-AAA. The Seahawks have shown promise in spurts, but have won only once since mid-December, a stretch of 10 games.

Coach Craig Martin said that won’t change his outlook after three relatively close region contests.

“Usually I’m very realistic. I still think we can win the region,” he said. “I think three games is gonna be the number. I don’t think you can lose any more than three. We’re going to have to have a lot of things go our way. But if you go 7-3 in the region, you’ll have a real good shot at that first spot.”

Meanwhile, it is St. James that likely has the better shot, at least for now. The Sharks will head to Lake City (2-1 region) before playing host to 3-0 Wilson early next week. A pair of victories in those two would continue to shift the top of the region.

Carr said Tuesday’s victory was a nice start to his team’s attempt in doing just that.

“We’re very fortunate to come into Seahawk territory and steal a win,” Carr said. “We’re going to take it for what it is.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 10:22 PM with the headline "St. James boys rally past Myrtle Beach in second half en route to win."