Socastee boys finish off season with loss against region champ Sumter

Reflecting on a season that had just come to an end, Socastee boys basketball coach DeAndre Scott merely focused on the positives, hoping to carry them into next season while also further developing his talent.

With a young team, the future looks bright for the Braves.

“Number one, we just have to play more and get more experience. But the biggest thing about our team for next year is that we only have one senior graduating. All of my kids that play substantial minutes and score points will all return next year and we want to keep improving and hopefully be more competitive,” Scott said after his team’s season-ending 79-57 loss to Sumter that concluded a Region VI-AAAA slate in which Socastee finished in last place at 1-9. “That being said, our region will have no drop-off and will still be so competitive. Conway has no seniors, Carolina Forest has two, we have one and Sumter is going to be what they always are. We do have some things we need to catch up on, but we do have some pieces coming back to hopefully give us a chance to catch up.”

Socastee kept up with Sumter early on Friday as it trailed the Gamecocks by just one point after the first quarter. However, Sumter created some distance in the second quarter as it took a 37-28 lead into halftime and never looked back.

Jason Cudd put up a game-high 26 points, and Andrew Gardner scored 11 to pace Socastee.

“As far as the individual game, Sumter has a good team; they are the region champs. And they were our region champs last year and the [Class AAAA] state champs, so I have to give it up to them,” Scott said. “But I think we played good and kept it relatively close, they just beat us up on the glass and had a bunch of second-chance points.”

The Gamecocks had four players reach double figures in scoring as Cedric Rembert led the way with 17 points. Tylik Simon scored 13 points, Jaylenn Corbett put up 12 and Cameron Singleton added 11 for Sumter, which finished with a 7-3 region record and will host at least one playoff game.

Meanwhile, Scott said just playing in the talent-laden region is an honor and the competition won’t get any easier next season.

“As far as the season, we were doing OK until we hit our region [games]. Our region is stacked; there’s no other way to say it,” he said. “Just a great group of teams that are well-coached and loaded with talent. At this point, we were unable to match up with that. It’s something we’re going to continue to work on, and we know what we need to improve on so hopefully next year we’re more competitive.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Socastee boys finish off season with loss against region champ Sumter."