Carolina Forest escapes with win over Conway, earns share of region crown

By halftime, Carolina Forest boys basketball coach Brian Brunson is accustomed to his team having put up at least 37 points on the scoreboard.

But as his team’s total for four quarters of play? Not at all.

Fortunately for the Panthers, that would be all they would need Friday night, outlasting a game Conway team to claim a 37-35 win.

The victory gave Carolina Forest a share of the Region VI-AAAA title, the second for the basketball program since moving up to the state’s largest classification. Though losing out on a tiebreaker to co-champion Sumter, the Panthers will be at home against Bluffton for the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs on Wednesday.

“In this conference, if you get a win on the road, that’s a feather in your cap,” Brunson said. “We made some mistakes in possessions, turnovers, missed some free throws down the stretch, things we need to get corrected. But credit to a Conway team, they played hard and really gave us all we could handle (Friday night).”

A second half largely marked by futility on the offensive end of the floor for both teams picked up in the final minute, with a pair of key plays proving to be the difference.

With less than 30 seconds remaining, a bucket by Conway’s Jimmy Nichols tied the game at 35. After calling a timeout to draw up a play, Carolina Forest put the ball in the hands of Damon McDowell, whose acrobatic lay-up helped put his team back in front after finding an open path to the basket.

“Duane Moss passed me the ball, and I saw an open path and just took advantage of it,” McDowell said. “(Brunson) said be patient and just have fun, and get a win. And we were able to get that done.”

Conway had three opportunities to tie the game up in the closing seconds, but none of them was able to hit the mark. As Juwan Moody’s final desperate heave caromed off the iron, Carolina Forest reserves leapt from the bench to celebrate with their comrades on the floor.

For Conway boys basketball coach Michael Hopkins, it was another stinging loss in a region schedule chock full of them.

“It just seemed all region long we were one play here, one play there from winning games,” he said. “But we just couldn’t get over the hump. I think these type of losses will be the one that will fuel them this offseason, and eventually we will win these type games.”

Neither team led by more than seven points in the game, with eight lead changes and two ties.

Moss was the only Carolina Forest player in double figures, scoring 15 points in the game. Nichols had 12 points for Conway in a losing effort.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 11:51 PM with the headline "Carolina Forest escapes with win over Conway, earns share of region crown."