MOORESVILLE, N.C. – The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets weren’t able to overcome a slow start in their first road game of the season falling to the Gaston Christian Eagles in the Phenom Hoops Lakesgiving at Lake Norman High School.
Fort Mill fell 74-60 to the Eagles and are now 3-1 on the season.
“We got outside of who we are,” said Fort Mill head coach Myron Lowery. “They are a really good team. You have to be able to beat really good teams. We didn’t play really well.”
Gaston Christian, who came in at 9-0, started pressing Fort Mill out of the gate and started 5-0 before a basket by AJ Washington. With his second basket of the game, Washington scored his 1,000-career point in high school, with three of those years playing for Fort Mill.
Fort Mill struggled on the boards early not getting defensive rebounds and they also had trouble converting on the offensive end as Gaston went up 11-6.
The Jackets did better on the defensive boards, but Gaston still lead 15-10 going into the second quarter.
Fort Mill struggled shooting as neither Wallace Campbell nor Jermier Nelson were a factor on offense for the Jackets in the first half. Washington did most of the scoring on his own to keep the Jackets in the game. Fort Mill got mostly one-shot attempts per possession in the first half as Gaston Christian continued to out rebound them on both ends of the floor.
The Jackets pulled within four at 27-23, but consecutive turnovers allowed Gaston to quickly regain a 10-point lead at 33-23.
Gaston Christian took a 37-30 lead into the half as both Nelson and Campbell each scored only one field goal in the first half.
The second half opened with Gaston Christian going on a 5-0 run with the help of two Fort Mill turnovers. The Jackets continued to have problems with their ball handling as Gaston took advantage of struggles.
Fort Mill was unable to keep pace as most of the Gaston Christian points came off fast breaks from turnovers.
The Eagles kept a comfortable 10-point lead or more over the Jackets. Fort Mill hit just five of 20 shot attempts in the third quarter and trailed by 12 entering the fourth quarter.
Fort Mill controlled possession more in the fourth quarter but failed to convert on a lot of their shots.
The Jackets cut down on the turnovers, but couldn’t get stripes on defense as Gaston Christian continued to pull away.
Fort Mill hit back-to-back 3-pointers from Canyon Hall and George Stewart to cut the Eagles lead to nine with about 2:15 left in the game. Despite the rally, the Jackets couldn’t overcome deficit to drop their first game of the season.
Washington finished with 22 points to lead the Jackets. Nelson added nine points and Campbell had four points.
Up next for Fort Mill is a road game at Lancaster High School on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Nov. 28 Roundup
The Fort Mill Lady Jackets beat West Charlotte 63-30 to improve to 2-1 in the KR3 Thanksgiving Invitational at West Charlotte High School.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
