Myrtle Beach boys top St. James to create Region VII-AAA logjam

On Friday, the Myrtle Beach boys basketball team shook things up in Region VII-AAA.

Now there’s a logjam atop the standings.

The Seahawks took down St. James 59-45 on the road in a packed gym, forcing a four-way tie for first place in the region. Myrtle Beach, St. James, North Myrtle Beach and Wilson are all 5-3 with two games remaining.

“With each region game, you have to come ready to play. They know what we do; we know what they do,” Seahawks coach Craig Martin said. “We just executed and a lot of times, when it comes down to it, you need to have a little luck. Tonight it went our way.”

The Seahawks opened the season 3-16, and were 0-3 to start region play. Myrtle Beach hasn’t missed a beat since, winning five straight games to keep its playoff hopes very much alive.

“We’ve been working hard. But I just give so much credit to Coach Martin and the rest of the coaching staff,” said Seahawks junior forward Bryce Schneider, a Richmond commit. “They’ve really got on us about turning things around and I think we’ve done a good job responding.”

Schneider played a big part in the Seahawks’ win Friday. He scored a game-high 17 points for Myrtle Beach, which trailed 28-27 at halftime but opened the third quarter with a ton of energy.

“I told them we just had to do a better job of executing and trying to keep [St. James] out of the paint, not let their ‘Big 3’ get too comfortable. That was really it,” Martin said of what he told his team at halftime. “There weren’t a lot of major adjustments [in the second half]. It was just kids doing what they were supposed to do, and they did a better job in the second half than they did in the first.”

The Seahawks outscored St. James 16-7 in the third quarter, which was capped by a huge putback dunk by Myrtle Beach’s Jaquan Chestnut that made Seahawks fans erupt in their rival’s gym.

“That was an insane dunk,” Schneider said. “He’s had back-to-back games with dunks and we just feed off that energy. I think (his dunk) tonight really put us over the top.”

Martin gave credit to Chestnut for executing when it mattered most.

“He was locked in. He’s had some problems with foul trouble but, when he’s in the game, he’s a game-changer,” Martin said. “He’s very good on the boards, gets a lot of offensive rebounds, crashes hard and just does a good job. He stepped up, had a big game, made a big play and that really got the crowd into it and got us excited. It changed the game, changed the momentum.”

Meanwhile, Schneider has continued to be a shining light for the Seahawks as Martin trusts to call on him when needed.

“When we called his number, he did a good job of executing and doing what we wanted him to do,” Martin said. “Getting to the free throw line and attacking the basket is what he does best and he proved that tonight. He also does a good job of looking for others, and sometimes he might be too unselfish for his own good. But he does a really good job.”

Meanwhile, Adam Zam poured in 14 points, Chestnut scored 11, Keyonte Sessions had nine and Robert Swanson added six to round out the scoring for the Seahawks.

“It was a great team win,” Schneider said. “We played together.”

Jackson Hurston paced St. James with a team-high 15 points and Zach Werba scored 13, but it wasn’t enough Friday.

“I have to give compliments to Craig Martin and his team. They came in ready and prepared, played a very physical game and were very mentally and physically tough,” Sharks coach Monty Carr said. “We lost our composure in the third quarter, gave them a 10-point margin and they kept it the rest of the way.”

The Sharks opened the night with sole possession of first place in the region but saw that change quickly. St. James travels to take on Wilson at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, and hosts Lake City on Thursday in the region finale.

“We already knew from the get-go that this region was going to come down to those last couple of games,” Carr said. “We already knew Wilson was talented. North Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach and Lake City, they were going to be tough and this season is showing it.”

Meanwhile, Myrtle Beach hosts Georgetown at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and will close out the season with a road game against North Myrtle Beach on Thursday.

The standings could potentially be just as chaotic then as they are now.

“It’s a mess, everyone knows that,” Martin said. “We just need to make sure we concern ourselves with ourselves and make sure we do what we’re supposed to do and whatever happens, happens.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 12:09 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach boys top St. James to create Region VII-AAA logjam."