With a little floater on the right side of the lane by Fort Mill’s Gabe Tooper, the Jackets boy’s basketball team edged the Rock Hill Bearcats 53-52 to move into a first-place tie Tuesday night.
The game was back and forth the entire night with each team making small runs to surge head, before struggling to defend and watching the other team crawl back into the game.
Fort Mill trailed by one with 11 seconds left when Tooper dribbled the length of the court and hit the jumper to give the Jackets the win. Fort Mill improves to 5-2 to tie Rock Hill for the Region 3-5A lead and 12-10 overall on the season.
“It is good to win a game like that,” said Fort Mill head coach Dwayne Hartsoe. “Gabe made a big shot. We didn’t shoot as well tonight. They are good defensively.”
Both Tooper and McGuire Adams each had 10 points to lead Fort Mill. The game was close throughout as Fort Mill held a 14-11 lead after the opening quarter. Will Stumpf and AJ Washington each dropped in five points in the opening period for Fort Mill.
The Jackets finished the first quarter on a 6-0 run and then opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run to go up 19-11. Rock Hill was strong from beyond the arch in the second quarter and fought their way back into the game as Fort Mill held to a 27-26 lead at the half.
Fort Mill started the third quarter strong, but Rock Hill continued to chip away at their lead and took the lead at 32-31 with about 5:30 left in the quarter. Fort Mill was able to keep pace and ended the quarter on a 5-0 run to go up 39-34.
The Jackets couldn’t pull away in the fourth quarter, as Rock Hill tied the game at 43 with 4:20 left to play. Both teams would trade baskets back and forth, before Rock Hill hit a shot with about 13 seconds left to go up for their final lead before the Tooper game winner.
Lady Bearcats pull away from Jackets
The Fort Mill Lady Jackets struggled with turnovers at times, but their real struggle against Rock Hill was shooting the ball.
Fort Mill hit just nine shots from the field in the game and only three free-throws as Rock Hill beat them 38-23. The Lady Jackets fell to 8-15 overall and 1-6 in region play.
Both teams started slow and Fort Mill was able to hang with the sixth ranked Lady Bearcats in the first quarter, but poor shooting by Fort Mill and a strong Rock Hill game plan allowed them to go on a 13-0 run in the second quarter and take a 19-9 halftime lead.
The Fort Mill shooting didn’t get any better in the second half as Rock Hill continued to pull away, despite the fact they also struggled at times to score.
Fort Mill was led by Lydia Laney in scoring as she finished with six points for the Lady Jackets.
Fort Mill heads to Spring Valley Friday for their second match-up with the Vikings this season as the girls face their second consecutive top 10 team in Spring Valley, which is ranked fifth. The Fort Mill boys won their initial meeting with the Vikings and with the win against Rock Hill have guaranteed at least a split with their remaining three region opponents.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
