Pee Dee teams look to lock up title berths

The Mullins Auctioneers never really talked about last year’s Class 2A lower state championship loss to Burke this season.

That all changed Friday.

“Now that we’re here, I wanted to talk about it with the kids at practice,” Mullins coach Mark Gerald said. “It was always in the back of our minds, and it served as motivation to get us back to this point.

“Hopefully, now it will serve as motivation to take that next step.”

The Aucs will face Wade Hampton tonight with a chance to erase the memories of last year’s stunning loss, Mullins’ only loss of the season.

“It’s not easy to get back here,” Gerald said. “Look at Burke. They lost out. It takes a tremendous amount of dedication to make it back here and the kids have had that this season.”

Gerald doesn’t expect the Aucs to do anything much different against Wade Hampton than they have all year, he said.

“They have some good shooters, so we’ll have to make sure we get some hands in faces,” he said. “But other than that, we just have to play good defense and run our offense.”

The Hemingway boys and Marion girls also will be playing for lower state titles tonight.

The Tigers will face Calhoun County, while the Swamp Foxes are going up against Silver Bluff.

It will be the second straight year and third out of the last four years the Tigers will face the Saints. Calhoun County defeated Hemingway 67-66 in the Class A state title game.

“I think both teams expected to be here and have anticipated this moment,” Hemingway coach Barry McFadden said. “It’s been a good rivalry and we’ve had a lot of good games.”

Calhoun County is led by Alshon Jeffery, a South Carolina commitment in football. The three-time defending champion Saints have won 102 of their last 103 games, and are 101-0 with Jeffery in the lineup.

“I know for us, we have to rebound well and keep from getting a lot of secondary scoring opportunities,” McFadden said. “On offense, we have to make sure that we take good shots and don’t turn the ball over.

Playing this late in the season is uncharted waters for the Swamp Foxes, who are making their first lower state title appearance under coach Leon Sturkey.

“It’s a good feeling,” n Sturkey said. “But we don’t want to just make it to this point. We want to make go to that next game.”

The Swamp Foxes have reached this point just five years after Sturkey took the helm.

“It’s been a process,” he said. “We knew it was going to take some time, and we’ve made the playoffs a couple of years now and (today) we’re playing in the lower state final.”

Marion is led by Geneika Brantley and Candace Wright, who each average a double-double.

“We know what we’re going to get from them, but we’ve had a lot of other players that have scored off the bench and done well for us,” Sturkey said. “Mainly, we’re just going to put pressure on the basketball and rely on what we do.”