Lake City, Hemingway win easily at Pepsi Carolina Classic

FLORENCE — For Lake City, Monday’s game was another step in the right direction, coach Willie Thomas said.

For Timmonsville, it was a much-needed reality check, coach Gerald Wright said.

Lake City outscored Timmonsville 26-12 in the second quarter en route to an 84-56 victory on the second day of the Pepsi Carolina Classic at West Florence High School.

The loss is the Whirlwinds’ first of the season (5-1) and eliminates the defending tournament runners-up from competing for this year’s title.

“This is a team that’s been young for a couple years, but I knew we could decent if we got good guard play,” Thomas said. “This is probably the best we’ve played all year. The big guys played well and we hit our free throws tonight.

“That’s usually been our downfall this season.”

The Panthers were 18-for-26 from the free throw line and also connected on six 3-pointers, four in the first half, en route to building a 50-29 halftime lead.

“We’ve got some pretty good shooters,” Thomas said. “If we’re shooting well, that usually gets a lot of teams out of their zone defense, but tonight we had good inside presence as well.”

Timmonsville never managed to get into rhythm offensively, and came out flat, Wright said.

“No excuses, we weren’t ready to play,” Wright said. “We were 5-0 and beating everybody by 30 points, and our heads were up in the air. We needed this rump-cutting.

“They outhustled us the whole game. So, we have to come to play every game, and we’re going to take this and learn from it.”

Lake City had several easy layups under the basket and also benefited from 34 turnovers by the Whirlwinds.

“We didn’t defend on the perimeter and we didn’t defend in the post,” Wright said. “We turned the ball over and really made it easy for them. That’s something we have to work on.”

Corey Baker led the Panthers with 21 points and seven rebounds. Dashawn Butler added 13 points and Domanic Wilson finished just short of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Antonio Jones led the Whirlwinds with 21 points. Oshwand Scott finished with 11 followed by Jonathan Jones with 10.

Hemingway 76 West Florence 39

Hemingway outscored West 26-8 in the second quarter on the way to a big win.

The Tigers had 26 steals in the game and also took advantage of 41 turnovers by the Knights.

Quintin Brown led all scorers with 20 points for Hemingway. Tashan Fredrick had 19 points and 12 rebounds while Jazjuan Wilson chimed in with 13 points and eight rebounds. Shaquille Wells also had 11steals for the Tigers.

Raheem Williamson led the Knights with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Hartsville 62, Georgetown 61

Lawrence McPhail’s free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining wound up sealing the win for the Red Foxes after Georgetown’s Kinard Gadsen-Gillard hit a 3-pointer near half court at the buzzer.

The late-game drama came after Hartsville’s Jordan Scott fouled out in the fourth quarter after posting a game-high 30 points. Scott went 8-for-8 from the free throw line and connected on four 3-pointers.

Gadsen-Gillard had 28 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs. Devon Gant and Avery Evans each had 10 points.

Marlboro County 72, Dillon 63

Daerell Dease led four Bulldog players in double figures with 18 points en route to a nine-point win against the Wildcats.

Tyrone Harrington finished with 16 points for Marlboro followed by Kinsman Thomas with 15. Tysheim Ford rounded out the top scorers with 11 points.

Ridge Gurley led all scorers with 20 points for the Wildcats. Quincy Bethea added 14. Antuawn Blue had 12 rebounds for Dillon followed by Garrett Ford with 11.

C.E. Murray 55, South Florence 52

Behind three players in double figures, the War Eagles built a lead and then held off a fourth-quarter charge by the Bruins.

Emanuel Brown led all scorers with 14 points for C.E. Murray. Tevin Wallace had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Matthew Cyrus added 10 points.

Gabe Whitlock led the Bruins with 10 points. Trent Dowd and Cederick Fleming each had eight rebounds.

Florence Christian 61 Johnsonville 46

David Waring led four Eagles in double figures with 17 points as Florence Christian earned its first win of the tournament.

Michael Wilson and Matt Prosser each added 10 points for the Eagles and Jordan Washington posted 13 points.

Davonte Brown led the Flashes with a game-high 19 points.