Making the most of a bad situation, the Fort Mill basketball program is looking to do just that.
Fort Mill will open their 2023-2024 season on Tuesday, Nov. 28 against South Point from Belmont, N.C. at their interim home court this season at the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center. They are playing one home game at Nation Ford on Dec. 1 against Catawba Ridge.
The Jackets will be playing many of their games over there this season while their floor is being replaced at Fort Mill High after a flooding issue due to a broken water pipe ruin their basketball gym floor last month.
Fort Mill is coming off a 17-11 season last year and have won back-to-back Region 3-5A championships and made it to the third round of the state playoffs the past two seasons.
Despite not having a true home gym, Fort Mill will try to replicate the intensity of the Hive the best they can while playing in Rock Hill.
“We are not going to make any excuses for the situation we have been given,” said Myron Lowery, new Fort Mill boys’ basketball coach, in his first season at the helm of the Jackets program. “We are going to make the best of it. We talk about it all the time, it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you respond to it. This is a real-life situation of how we are going to respond to it. It is obviously not the ideal situation, but we are making the best of it. I think it is going to help us to grow stronger as a team in having all these adversities before playing our first game.”
Fort Mill brings a core group of players back to this year’s team and will look to a new face to help as well.
“I like where we are at now,” Lowery said. “We had two scrimmages and things have went well. Still a lot of things to clean up, but the kids have been fantastic.”
The Jackets have six seniors on this year’s team including Darryl Carrington and Christian McCain, both of which saw significant playing time last season.
“Darryl will play a much bigger role,” Lowery said. “He is understanding who he needs to be and has played that role extremely well in the preseason. I am looking for big things from him.”
Another key player for Fort Mill coming off an injury is sophomore AJ Washington, who had a lot of minutes last year on the court as a freshman.
“He should be ready for game one,” Lowery said.
Fort Mill has a new face in the mix, with a familiar name in Nas Berry, who is coming over from Nation Ford. Berry, who missed last season with an injury, is a junior this season.
“He is going to be a great help,” Lowery said. “He will have a lot of responsibility with ball handling and scoring. He has had a great off season and is 100 percent healthy now.”
Fort Mill won’t have a preseason tournament, but will play in a showcase before Christmas in the Battle of the Board at Independence High School Dec. 21 and 22. After Christmas, the Jackets will play in the West Cabarrus Holiday Classic in Concord.
Lady Jackets
The Fort Mill girls’ basketball team is coming off a 9-18 record and first round loss in the playoffs. Head coach Nathan Wruble, beginning his second year at the helm, feels like his team is ready to make a turn.
“We are a deeper team,” Wruble said. “We are a stronger team.”
Fort Mill had about 11 games last year that they lost to teams that won 20 or more games and played an incredibly tough schedule.
Fort Mill lost one senior last year and has key players back in Clare Moore, and the Chambliss sisters, Julienne and Jada. They also return Reagan Reyes and Ella Marker, which should be beneficial as well.
“We have both our point guards back,” Wruble said. “This is a busy second year. We have quite a few returning.”
Wruble said that having a lack of a home gym has not really affected the team, as they are still able to get practices in at different locations around town and at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Cetner. The only difference is that practices may be a little shorter, he said.
Wruble added that playing at the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center is exciting, but it will be just as exciting for their opponents as well because of the uniqueness of the situation.
“Everybody we play is going to be excited to come here and play us,” he said.
The Lady Jackets will be playing in the Winborn Invitational at Rock Hill High Dec. 21-23 before Christmas and then in the Catawba Ridge Christmas tournament Dec. 28-30.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
