Darlington coach Ken Howle and West Florence coach Bion Shoemaker each had the same remark about their teams’ performances Wednesday: Missed opportunities.
Neither team was able to take advantage of layups or open shots in the first half, but a 22-point third quarter helped Darlington earn a 53-43 win against West as the Falcons swept the season series.
“West played great defense, and their offense always makes you keep thinking and scratching your head,” Howle said. “We tried to press the issue, but West did a good job of staying in their game plan.
“We just missed so many opportunities under the basket. We turned easy shots into hard shots and we haven’t shot free throws very well lately either.”
The Knights were much in the same boat. West scored just three points in the first quarter and did not hit a 3-pointer until the fourth quarter despite attempting more than 10 in the game.
“We had the pace of the game going like we wanted it, but missed a lot of layups and easy shots,” Shoemaker said. “We never could get the lead like we wanted, either.”
With both teams struggling, Darlington held an 18-12 lead at the half. After sitting out a lot of the first half in foul trouble, Darlington’s Maxie Jacobs scored eight points in the third quarter as the Falcons opened up a 40-23 lead.
“We wanted to pick up the pace of the game a little bit more,” Howle said. “We were able to get enough of push in the third quarter to see us through.
“At Darlington, we were able to get a lot of scores off turnovers, but we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
The Falcons were led by Torey Wright, who finished with a game-high 17 points. David Lightly came off the bench to post a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Donnie James added nine points and seven rebounds for Darlington.
Marquis Hickson had 10 points for West, including three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter that helped cut the deficit back to 10 points. Jonathon Gardner led the Knights with 19 points and Raheem Williamson came off the bench to score 12.
“We’re getting better each game,” Shoemaker said. “We’ve started out about this same way each year and turned things on after the Carolina Classic.”
Darlington (3-1) will face Central at the Chesterfield tournament at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 29. West Florence (1-6) hosts East Clarendon today.
GIRLS
Darlington 77
West Florence 14
Jazma Green led three Falcons in double figures with 15 points as Darlington swept the season series.
Sebria Jett added 11 points for the Falcons and Kierra Patterson finished with 10.
Shelby Robertson led the Knights with eight points.
Darlington (4-0) will play Chapin in North Myrtle Beach’s Shootout by the Sea tournament at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
West Florence (1-6) will host East Clarendon tonight.
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