Poinsettia Classic Carolina Bracket Day 2 Recap

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2023 Poinsettia Classic continued on Thursday, December 28th, at Greenville High School with 8 games: 4 in the Carolina Bracket and 4 in the Palmetto Bracket. The Carolina Bracket featured 2 Second Round Games in the Consolation Bracket and 2 Semifinals in the Winner's Bracket, including a classic in Semifinal #2. <strong>Take a look at a recap of Thursday's Carolina Bracket action:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Thursday's Final Scores: </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mauldin 59, Southside 40</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wade Hampton 59, Boiling Springs 54</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blythewood 63, South Pointe 36</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wetside 59, Sumter 58<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewBaxleySC/status/1740577341641011672"></a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mavs Bounce Back And Open Thursday With Win Over Southside</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2308612,"width":"424px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Image-12-29-23-at-9.14-AM.jpeg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Image-12-29-23-at-9.14-AM.jpeg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-2308612" style="width:424px;height:auto" /></a></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thursday's action began early with a 10:00 tip between the 5A Mauldin Mavericks and the 3A Southside Tigers who each lost yesterday afternoon. Both teams struggled to find their legs at the beginning of the game, particularly the Mavs who missed several layups in the first quarter alone. Despite Star Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='1737994' first='Jaden' last='Johnson'] not having his best start to the game, the Tigers got solid production from their wings and led most of the first half. Mauldin ran a beautiful play out of the horns set to get <strong>Jackson Armbruster</strong> his second of two 2nd Quarter 3s and give the Mavericks the lead at the break. Coming out of the locker room, their defense was much improved. They began to force Southside into much tougher looks and finished their opportunities in transition. This theme continued into the 4th quarter, and Mauldin started to pull away late. The Maverick's leading scorers were [player_tooltip player_id='1420680' first='Braden' last='Hershberger'] with 10 and [player_tooltip player_id='1982892' first='Owen' last='Stewart'] with 9, both players scoring all their points in the second half. Southside's [player_tooltip player_id='1737994' first='Jaden' last='Johnson'] was held to just 8 Points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Strong Second Half Boosts Wade Hampton Vs Boiling Springs</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2308614,"width":"422px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Image-12-29-23-at-9.14-AM-1.jpeg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Image-12-29-23-at-9.14-AM-1.jpeg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-2308614" style="width:422px;height:auto" /></a></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bulldogs were already short-handed coming into the game on Thursday without Sophmore Guards Foster and Favorite and Junior Wing Walter, but when Top-20 Sophmore [player_tooltip player_id='1465116' first='Isaiah' last='Atkins'] picked up an ankle injury in the First Quarter [player_tooltip player_id='1738025' first='Landon' last='Sprouse'] had to pick up a large portion of the scoring load. He did just that - putting up 19 points in the first half as Boiling Springs jumped out to an early lead. They did a good job of attacking the rim and exposing Wade Hampton's lack of size. But, after halftime, Coach Reggie Choplin and the Generals made some key adjustments to slow down the Bulldog offense. Boiling Springs did not make a single Field Goal in the 3rd Quarter, scoring all 7 points from the free throw line as Wade Hampton went from being down 10 at halftime to up 1 at the end of the 3rd Quarter. <strong>Ayinde Burnside</strong> was extremely important to the Generals, putting up 10 of his 20 points in the 3rd Quarter alone and being the key to slowing down Sprouse on the other end. Wade Hampton did miss a couple of late free throws, but their overall late-game execution was good enough to hold onto their lead and move to 1-1 in the tournament. Senior Guard <strong>KJ Banks</strong> (Pictured) put up 21 Points and 4 Assists for the Generals, and Sprouse finished with 23 Points for the Bulldogs. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Blythewood Dominant Over South Pointe in Semifinal #1</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2308615,"width":"426px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Image-12-29-23-at-9.16-AM.jpeg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Image-12-29-23-at-9.16-AM.jpeg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-2308615" style="width:426px;height:auto" /></a></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The First Semifinal of the Carolina Bracket featured two teams on opposite trajectories: the 9-4 Blythewood Bengals who have had a great start to the season and the 4-9 South Pointe Stallions who have had a rocky start to the season. The opening quarter was played at a somewhat slow pace, but the Bengals began to pull away early in the second. [player_tooltip player_id='1678544' first='Will' last='Olden'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2090536' first='TJ' last='Lewis'] each hit a 3 and assisted the other for a 3 on Blythewood's run. They held South Pointe to just 6 points in the 2nd Quarter and stretched their lead out to 23 at halftime. The Stallions came out of the locker room with better offensive execution and [player_tooltip player_id='1466665' first='Tre' last='Raymon'] got into double digits, but the Bengals quickly answered to put the lead back over 20. The lead would remain in that area for the remainder of the game as Blythewood book it's place in the Carolina Bracket Championship Game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Joshua Williams Free Throw, Defelection, Send Westside to Championship Game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2308616,"width":"424px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Image-12-29-23-at-9.18-AM.jpeg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/Image-12-29-23-at-9.18-AM.jpeg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-2308616" style="width:424px;height:auto" /></a></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Second Semifinal took the prize for Thursday's Game of the Day. These two teams were very similar in terms of overall talent and each featured one of the top wings in their respective classes to go with good Senior Guards. [player_tooltip player_id='1486213' first='BJ' last='Brown'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1423863' first='Zeke' last='Marshall'] - the aforementioned top wings - each had big first halves on both ends of the floor and had 11 at the break where Westside led 29-27. Late in the second half, it felt like Westside would begin to pull away. However, Sumter began to press more and more and create problems for the Rams. <strong>Andre McBride</strong> hit 2 Free Throws and [player_tooltip player_id='1088708' first='Caleb' last='Jenkins'] converted a layup to cut the Westside lead to 3 with 2:52 left, but Westside answered. A few possessions later Brown hit a corner 3 out off a Sideline Out of Bounds Play, quickly followed by Sophmore <strong>Jysizah Williams</strong> going made Free Throw, Lane Violation, made Free Throw to put Sumter up 56-55 with just less than a minute to play. Westside's [player_tooltip player_id='1258300' first='Josh' last='Williams'] came down and answered with an extremely tough layup plus a foul to put the Rams back up 2. The Gamecocks raced down the floor and found <strong>Jordan Bradley</strong> under the basket to tie the game at 58 with just over 30 seconds remaining. Westside would hold for the last shot, and Williams was fouled on the attempt. He went 1-2 from the line and then got his hands on a Gamecock attempted pass on the final possession to seal the 59-58 win and send Westside to the Championship Game. Brown led all scorers with 19 points, followed by Williams and Marshall with 15 each. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Carolina Bracket Championship Game:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blythewood (5A, 10-4) vs Westside (4A, 6-6) on Friday, December 29th, at 7:00 at Greenville High School.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->