Fort Mill’s AJ Washington led the Jackets in their third-round playoff game Wednesday against Dorman. Photo by Rob Upton Photography.

The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets season came to an end in the third round of the 5A playoffs Wednesday with a tough 66-33 loss to the Dorman Cavaliers.

Dorman was strong from the opening tip as they got out to a good start and never looked back.

The Jackets struggled shooting throughout the game. Fort Mill only hit 12 shots in the game as freshman AJ Washington led the Jackets with 13 points.

“We didn’t shoot well,” said Fort Mill head coach Dwayne Hartsoe. “We struggled getting into our stuff.”

Fort Mill made it to the third round of the playoffs for the second year in a row and ended the season with a 17-11 record. The season wasn’t as easy as the record might have indicated. After starting the season at 1-4 and then at one point being 7-10, the Jackets rattled off a 10-game win streak to capture the Region III title and make another deep run in the playoffs.

“We came a long way,” Hartsoe said. “We overcame a lot of adversity along the way. I think the kids learned a lot.”

The Jackets had their best offensive period in the fourth quarter, despite Dorman outscoring them 20-12. Besides Washington’s 13 points, Matt Poliquin scored nine points off the bench for Fort Mill all in the fourth quarter. Fort Mill senior Gabe Tooper finished the game with six points.

Fort Mill came out of the half down 15 to open the third quarter. The Jackets hit just 6-of-19 first half shots, but was looking for a quick start to the second half. That didn’t happen.

Dorman started with a 3-pointer and a 6-2 run to open the period going up 36-17 before a Fort Mill timeout.

The Jackets shot better but didn’t have a lot of opportunities off Dorman’s 2-3 zone in the early part of the quarter. Fort Mill struggled to get to the basket in the quarter as the Cavaliers went up 44-19 with about 3:25 left in the period before another Jackets timeout.

As the quarter progressed, Fort Mill had difficult holding onto the ball and their shooting started going down as well with Dorman holding a 25-point lead heading into the final quarter.

Washington opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, but Dorman came right back to answer.

Fort Mill found it tough to respond as the Jackets struggled to find a rhythm. Dorman’s defense was suffocating the Jackets causing turnovers as offensively the Cavaliers were able to open a comfortable gap. Dorman took a 30-15 lead to the locker room at the half.

The game opened with both teams trading baskets early on. Fort Mill took a small lead as Dorman tried to get their offense moving.

Once the Cavaliers found a groove, they went on a 7-0 run to make it 9-4 leading to a Jackets time out.

Washington consisted of Fort Mill’s offense early scoring their first six points. Dorman struggled with turnovers, but was still able to keep the Jackets at arm’s length to take a 13-7 lead after the first period.

Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep