CHESNEE – Two teams that are roughly 4.5 miles apart, will each be traveling about 63 miles to play each other in the finals of the Chesnee Roundball Classic.
Both Fort Mill and Catawba Ridge won their semifinal games Wednesday evening and will meet in the finals of the tournament held at Chesnee High School at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
The two teams saw each other earlier this year in the regular season at Fort Mill with the Copperheads getting a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Zyan Hager for the 49-46 win. That won’t happen this time around as Hager, who injured his ankle in the opening game Tuesday evening, won’t be playing in the finals Thursday. Catawba Ridge will also be without Brady Ambrose, who is also nursing a foot injury.
Fort Mill beat Hillcrest in dramatic fashion rallying from being down to end the third quarter to get the 52-47 win. Catawba Ridge routed Boiling Springs 66-37 for the second consecutive blowout of the tournament to punch their ticket to the finals.
The Jackets led off the doubleheader with the first game of the evening. Both Fort Mill and Hillcrest started slow as the Jackets had early turnover issues and struggled to find a rhythm. Fort Mill was able to end the first quarter on a small 4-0 run to give them a 12-9 lead.
However, in the second quarter, Hillcrest opened the period on an 8-0 run to go up 17-12. Fort Mill kept things close, but never was able to put a run together as they struggled on the glass getting rebounds. That allowed Hillcrest to take a four-point lead into the locker room at 25-21.
Fort Mill continued to keep it close in the third quarter, despite Hillcrest opening the second half with an 8-3 run. Gabe Tooper, who scored 22 points in the game, dropped in seven in the third quarter and Braylen McCain scored five of his nine points in the game in the quarter. Tooper led the team in scoring for the second consecutive game.
Trailing again by four to open the fourth quarter, Fort Mill outscored Hillcrest 17-8 in the final period with the help of consistent foul shooting. Fort Mill hit nine of 11 foul shots in the quarter. Fort Mill was able to take the lead at 44-43 with 4:21 left in the game and held Hillcrest off defensively for the remainder of the game. Fort Mill’s defense and rebound improved drastically in the second half.
“It was a good win against a good team,” said Fort Mill head coach Dwayne Hartsoe. “Defensively, we were good in the second half. We made some transition buckets. We battled. We still haven’t played our best game yet.”
In the nightcap, Catawba Ridge made quick work of the Boiling Springs Bulldogs with the help of a 23-3 second quarter.
The two teams played each other pretty evenly in the first quarter as Boiling Springs went up 18-16 after the opening period. Lance Barnes led the way for Catawba Ridge in the game. Barnes scored 20 points, 18 of them coming in the first half.
In the second quarter, the Copperheads were good at getting to the basket and scoring in transition as Grant Lovette scored eight points to lead Catawba Ridge. Catawba Ridge hit 11-of-15 shots from the field in the quarter and went up by 18 at the half leading 39-21.
Lovette continued where he left off in the third quarter as he again led the offense for the Copperheads. Lovette scored 16 points in the game, 11 of which came in the first half. The offense slowed for both teams in the third quarter as Boiling Springs was able to match Catawba Ridge shot-for-shot. Still Catawba Ridge was able to push their lead to 20 after three quarters to take a 52-32 score into the final period.
Catawba Ridge head coach Brett Childers said he was happy with how his team played.
“I am about as proud as I have ever been of a team that I have coached,” he said. “Everybody stepped up. We got contributions from all over. Lance got us off to a great start.”
The championship game Thursday will be the second straight year the two teams have met in the tournament. In 2021, Catawba Ridge beat Fort Mill in the semifinals as they would go on to win the tournament title.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
