Socastee boys knock off Conway in double overtime

DeAndre’ Scott was open with his team over the weekend.

The Socastee coach was leading a squad without much going for it, the few glimpses of bright spots coming without much team success.

“There’s slim to no chance of us making the playoffs. A bunch of crazy stuff would have to happen,” Scott said. “What I told the kids is that they could come out, build up some momentum for the summer, pick up some wins, try to play positive at the end of the season. The other thing I told them, and I hate to say this, is you can try to play spoiler. You can try to screw up someone else’s season.”

The Braves did all of that in exciting fashion Tuesday.

Scott’s team picked up its first region win of the year with a 68-63 victory over Conway in double overtime. It completed a strong push that started deep into the third quarter and didn’t let up until the team defeated its first Class AAAA opponent of the 2015-2016 season and first win overall in nearly a month.

Dating back to last season, it ended a streak of 14 consecutive region losses. And even though the game pitted the two teams at the bottom of the region standings, Socastee players were able to celebrate a much-needed happy moment.

“It feels good. We just played as a team. We came together and got it done,” junior center Jason Cudd said after scoring a team-high 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds. “[The losses are] tough, but you’ve got to fight through it.”

The Braves snapped the skid for a myriad reasons. Andrew Gardner had 16 points and was seven-of-nine from the floor. Kendrell Generette, who scored only two points, piled up 10 assists and added three steals. Aeneas Green had 12 points, including eight from the free-throw line.

Together, it led the Braves to play much better after halftime than most of their games during the losing span.

Conway guard Darren Stanley’s 18 first-half points pushed the Tigers to an eight-point lead at the break, and they extended it to 44-34 with three minutes left in the third quarter. It wouldn’t last, even though Stanley ended the night with 26 points. The Braves wrapped up the third quarter on a 10-2 run and then played well enough down the stretch in regulation to ensure at least overtime.

Once there, Socastee’s free-throw shooting did the rest. The Braves were already a respectable 18-of-25 from the line in the game, but 10-of-12 from the line in the two extra periods alone. Considering the two teams’ only combined for one field goal after the fourth quarter – Marcus Hemingway’s layup off a steal – and the free throws were magnified.

“This is the best free-throw shooting team I’ve ever coached, as far as percentage,” Scott said. “… We are a good free-throw shooting team. The pressure of it is a bit surprising. The fact that we can shoot free throws is not.”

And now, neither is that morale-boosting victory.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Socastee boys knock off Conway in double overtime."