LEXINGTON – The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets made it to one of the finals in the Lexington Roundball Classic after beating the Mauldin Mavericks on Saturday at Lexington High School.
Fort Mill won 61-52 in a close game as they will face either Fox Creek or Byrnes in the finals on Sunday, Dec. 28 at Lexington High.
The first quarter was back and forth for both teams as Mauldin was able to keep pace with Fort Mill.
The Jackets were strong on the defensive boards in the opening period. That helped Fort Mill to go on a 6-0 run towards the end of the first quarter to lead 13-9 at the end of the period.
Fort Mill was able to keep the lead doing most of their work in transition. The Jackets did struggle shooting from long range and hit just two 3-pointers in the first half.
The Jackets led 24-20, but wasn’t as strong defensively in the second quarter as Mauldin matched them point-for-point.
Mauldin started the second half on a 5-0 run to take the lead. Playing a tighter man defense, Fort Mill wasn’t able to get good looks at the basket as their shots struggled to fall.
Jermier Nelson and Wallace Campbell stepped up to lead Fort Mill back in front causing turnovers leading to again a strong transition game for the Jackets.
Fort Mill went on an 11-0 run to go up 35-30. The Jackets finished the third quarter strong to take a 41-32 lead into the final period.
The Jackets went up by 12 points to start the fourth quarter on an AJ Washington 3-pointer.
Mauldin stormed back to tie the game at 46 with 4:23 left on a 14-2 run. Nelson and Campbell were able to again get Fort Mill back on top with go-to baskets as Mauldin was forced to start fouling.
Fort Mill went 5-of-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 10-of-12 in the second half.
Campbell led with 21 points and Nelson added 19 points. Washington finished with 11 points. Fort Mill improved to 11-3 on the season.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
