West Florence surprises Sumter

By: SCNow Staff | SCNow
Published: January 28, 2009

FLORENCE — West Florence came into Tuesday night’s Region 6-4A matchup with Sumter knowing it would have to take the air out of the ball to have any chance to defeat a much bigger Gamecock squad.

The Knights did just that and used strong defense and a fourth-quarter run pull out a 52-44 upset of the Gamecocks in boys basketball action.

“We had a team meeting before the game to discuss our game plan,’ said West senior forward Jonathon Gardner, who led the Knights with 17 points in the win. “This was a total team effort. We stayed on our game and we got it done.”

“We missed layups and free throws tonight,” Sumter coach Nathan Livesay said. “When you miss layups and free throws, you lose."

Trailing 31-30 with six minutes to go, the Knights (6-11 overall, 2-3 in region) exploded on a 14-5 run. Marquis Hickson capped the run with a three-point play to give his team a 45-35 lead at the 2:31 mark of the fourth period.

Hickson finished with 10 points for West, and Raheem Williamson added 14.

“We’ve had some tough breaks this season,” Knights coach Bion Shoemaker said. “We lost to Carolina Forest at the buzzer, and we led at Hartsville at halftime and we let up.

“We didn’t let up and we won the game.”

The Knights combined their Princeton-styled offense with tough defense in the first 16 minutes to confuse the Gamecocks. Sumter was forced away from its high-scoring running game, committing turnovers and firing errant shots.

“Transition defense and rebounding wins games,” Shoemaker said. “Sumter has athletes that like to get out and run. You have to have good shot selection and take care of the basketball.“

“We were 0-for-8 from the free throw line in the second quarter and we missed four layups. That’s 16 points we didn’t score,” said Livesay, whose Gamecocks fall to 11-6 overall and 3-2 in region play. “That’s how you lose games.”

And even though Sumter had an 18-17 halftime advantage, West was the squad most pumped about its first-half performance.

“That was the exact score we wanted. We wanted to be within five points at halftime,” Gardner said. “We came out (of the locker room) quickly to keep our energy because we knew (the Gamecocks) were going to lose theirs.”

Quinn McClendon led Sumter with 17 points, and Stephen Curtis followed with 12.

GIRLS
Sumter 66, West Florence 45

Danielle McFadden led all scorers with 17 points as Sumter defeated the Knights.

Leading just 7-6 after one period, the Gamecocks (8-8 overall, 3-2 Region 6-4A) went on a 17-7 second-period run to blow the game open and keep West winless in region play.

Shanice Cooper finished with 13 points for Sumter, and Tiosha Vaughn added nine.

The Knights tried to get back into the contest in the fourth period, slicing the deficit to eight points. But Sumter ended the game on an 18-5 run.

Brittany Leonard scored 14 points to lead West Florence (2-15, 0-5). Emily Poston had 11 and and Tanaya Turpin followed with nine.

On Friday night, West Florence hosts Hartsville. Sumter hosts Conway.