CHESNEE – The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets found their hot hand again Thursday evening to finish in third place at the Chesnee Roundball Classic by beating host Chesnee 81-52.
Fort Mill had four players score in double figures as they were led by All-Tournament selection Kyle Neibch, who scored 22 points in the game. The Jackets were also helped by 13 points from Gabe Tooper, 11 points from Darryl Carrington and 10 points from Mitchell Anderson.
“When the ball goes in the basket, things go better,” said Fort Mill head coach Dwayne Hartsoe, referring to the shooting struggles the Jackets had against Catawba Ridge Wednesday night in the semi-finals. “We knew we had to have a quick start. It is a good way to finish before Christmas.”
A hot start was exactly what Fort Mill did by scoring 31 points in the opening quarter and hitting seven 3-pointers in the period to go up 31-6 after the first eight minutes of the game. Neibch scored 14 of his 22 points in the quarter and hit four of the 3-pointers. The Jackets hit 11 of 19 shots in the opening quarter.
With the hot start, Fort Mill didn’t take their foot off the gas in the second quarter as they doubled up Chesnee outscoring the host school 18-9 in the period to go up 49-15 at the break. Tooper dropped in seven of his 13 points in the second quarter.
Chesnee played better in the second half and kept up Fort Mill’s pace in the third quarter, but the Jackets were still able to convert on half of their shots to keep a comfortable lead. Playing most of their bench Chesnee was able to outscore Fort Mill in the fourth quarter. The Jackets hit a dozen 3-pointers in the game.
Fort Mill is now 8-4 on the season and will have three more games next week as part of the Bennie Bennett Invitational Tournament at Clover High School. Two of those games are at Clover on Dec. 28 and Dec. 29 and the final game is Dec. 30 at the Rock Hill Events Center. Fort Mill will play Marvin Ridge Dec. 28 and then Battery Creek Dec. 29 to see who they will play Thursday in the final day of the tournament.
Winborn Classic
The Fort Mill girls’ basketball team finished the Y.C. Winborn Classic with a 51-42 win over Airport High School Thursday at Rock Hill High. It was the second consecutive win for the Jackets as they improved to 4-8 overall on the season. Fort Mill will play in a two-day tournament at Northwestern Dec. 28 and 29 next week.
Nation Ford girls fell in their final game of the Y.C. Winborn Classic losing to Denmark-Olar 51-28. They are now 3-10 on the season overall and are off until January 2022.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
