Carolina Forest pulls out overtime win at James Island

A magical ride continues for the Carolina Forest boys’ basketball team with the latest heroic effort coming on Saturday night.

The Panthers upset Region VII-AAAA champion James Island, 53-49, in overtime to continue the best season in school history. The 18-7 Panthers will play perennial Class AAAA title contender Irmo on Tuesday night.

“What a great win for our program,” an elated Carolina Forest head coach Brian Brunson said. “We fought so hard. We’re a blue collar team. These guys just scrap and fight and play so hard every night. I am so proud of these guys. We were down and kept fighting back in the second half.

“This is great for this team. Seven of our 12 guys are first-year varsity guys. This is all new to these guys but they’re almost too young to be afraid at this point.”

James Island, a Lower State finalist last season, rallied late to tie the game at 39 when junior guard Jordan McDaniel sent the game into overtime with a long 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation. However, the Trojans were unable to sustain the momentum and Carolina Forest iced the victory at the free throw line.

“We let one get away,” a dejected James Island coach Stan Wilkins said. “We had control of the game. We let it get away in the second half. Then we fight back and get to overtime and had the momentum but we just were undisciplined in overtime. We did some uncharacteristic things and that was disappointing.

“But credit Carolina Forest. They came in here and we had them down but they kept fighting back. They’re a good, well-coached basketball team. Tonight they were just better.”

For those who enjoy great shooting and high-scoring offense, this was not the game to watch. Both teams struggled from the floor in the first half, due in large part to solid defense.

Carolina Forest held a modest 9-7 lead after one quarter before both teams went scoreless for nearly five minutes in the second. The Trojans closed the period on a 9-0 run to grab an 18-11 halftime advantage.

McDaniel scored five points during the spurt, including a pair of free throws with no time left on the clock.

James Island opened up its largest lead at 20-11 early in the third quarter, but the Panthers went on a 10-1 run to tie the game at 21 with 2:35 left in the period. The Trojans held a 27-25 lead heading into the fourth before Carolina Forest scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to lead 34-27 with five minutes left.

Vince Cole, who finished with 18 points, completed a 3-point play for James Island with 4:29 remaining but the Panthers maintained a 38-33 lead with 1:33 to play.

Jack Jordan hit a three to make it 38-36 and the Panthers missed a pair of free throws with 41 seconds left. Carolina Forest missed five of eight free throws in the final two minutes, setting the stage for McDaniel’s game-tying shot. McDaniel finished with 15 points.

In the overtime, Carolina Forest scored the first six points and led 45-39, despite its constant struggles from the charity stripe. Finally, however, junior forward Damon McDowell calmed the storm, hitting eight consecutive free throws to maintain the edge. McDowell was 11 of 13 from the line and led all scorers with 25 points.

Richmond Collier was the only other Panther in double figures with 10 points.

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Carolina Forest pulls out overtime win at James Island."