2A State Championship: York Prep vs. Gray Collegiate

Apparently the crystal ball for Gray Collegiate Academy painted a rosy picture of how its athletic season would unfold.

Football coach Adam Holmes led his football team to a state championship back in December. On Saturday afternoon at the USC-Aiken Convocation Center, the boys basketball team, coached by Dion Bethea, brought home more hardware for the War Eagles as they prevailed over York Prep by a final score of 56-53.

“Coach Holmes made it real hard on me this year after winning a football state championship,” Bethea said. “So he told me I had to go get one too. So, now we got two championship trophies in the lobby so I’m really excited about that.”

A Seesaw Affair

There were telltale signs early on that the War Eagles and Patriots would be locked in a closely-contested fight to the finish. Gray Collegiate had a 6-4 lead but extended that advantage to 13-4 with a 7-0 run.

York Prep came back and only trailed the War Eagles by four at 26-22 going into halftime. Eventually, the Patriots would pull ahead of Gray Collegiate by two (35-33) in the third quarter only for the War Eagles to go on a 12-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters to go ahead 45-33.

“I told them in the locker room at halftime it’s just like boxing,” coach Dion Bethea said. “Anytime you’re boxing you’ve got somebody that’s going to come out swinging. But I like Sugar Ray (Leonard). So, Sugar Ray, he’s going to get there and he’s going to keep jabbing and jabbing and in the fourth quarter we had to deliver the knockout blow. Which we did even though we tried to give them opportunities to win the game.”

The Patriots managed to pull close to the War Eagles in the fourth quarter, but when the fourth quarter expired, it was Gray Collegiate celebrating a state championship.

Nearly Perfect

Coach Larry Davis’ York Prep squad not only had a state championship in its sights, but a perfect season as the Patriots were 25-0 coming into play on Saturday.

York Prep will still likely look back on the 2021-22 season as one to remember as they came within three points of this season’s 2A crown in only its second year competing in the SCHSL ranks.

Primetime Performers

Scoring early and often for the War Eagles was guard Trai White. He tallied 18 points and also hauled in five rebounds in 30 minutes of play. White made six of his eight tries from the field and was a perfect five out of five from the free throw line. Out of the 18 points he scored, 12 of them occurred in the first half. White stayed out of foul trouble as he was only called for a pair of personal fouls.

In his final game wearing the Gray Collegiate colors, Calvin Hall Calvin Hall 6'2" | SG Gray Collegiate | 2022 State SC delivered a 12-point performance – including seven in the second half. Hall also hauled in four rebounds. He played 30 minutes and made four of his seven shots from the field. Hall bolstered the War Eagles attack from behind the arc as he had two of the four triples Gray Collegiate made.

Avantae Parker Avantae Parker 6'9" | PF Gray Collegiate | 2023 State SC stands tall at 6-foot-8 and the War Eagles power forward came within one point and one rebound shy of a double-double as he scored nine points and collected nine rebounds. In 31 minutes, he made four of his 10 attempts from the field.

York Prep had three players with double-digit point outputs – including two seniors with 12 apiece. One of the upperclassmen was Kory Davis Kory Davis 5'11" | PG York Prep | 2022 State SC , who grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists with his dozen points. Davis also had seven shots that he had at the free throw line with five of them hitting paydirt.

Also chiming in with a dozen was LaDarian McCree LaDarian McCree 5'11" | PG York Prep | 2022 State SC . Eight of his 12 came in the second half and he made six of his nine attempts from the field. McCree also came away with three steals in the 24 minutes of playing time he received.

Derrick Barksdale Derrick Barksdale 5'10" | SG South Pointe | 2023 State SC led the York Prep attack from downtown as he dropped 10 points. The Patriots only made three from behind the arc all game – two of those left Barksdale’s hands. Seven of his 10 were put on the board in the second half.

Closing the Book

Gray Collegiate finishes at 23-4 as well as a perfect 9-0 in Region 3-AA. York Prep’s season concludes with a 25-1 record and a 10-0 showing in Region 4-AA.

So Long, Seniors

Hall, Malachi Cooper, Tre Robinson, Tory Kelly Tory Kelly 6'0" | PG Gray Collegiate | 2022 State SC and Rivers Teeter will depart from Gray Collegiate. Both Kory and Kendall Davis Kendall Davis 6'0" | PG York Prep | 2022 State SC as well as McCree, Jevon Long Jevon Long 5'9" | PG York Prep | 2022 State SC and Brenton Elliott Brenton Elliott 6'7" | SF York Prep | 2022 State SC will graduate from York Prep.