Battle at BCS Jamboree: Day 1 Notebook

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Take a look at all the happenings on Day 1 of the Battle at BCS Jamboree in the Day 1 Notebook!</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Year 2 of the Battle at BCS Jamboree got off to a hot start, with Morehead and Chatham Central, two newcomers to this year's event. Morehead jumped out to a big lead and turned up the intensity on defense. <strong>Isiah Abdul</strong> and <strong>Ayden Haygood</strong> made early impressions as they held the Bears to just 10 first half points. Morehead led 22-10 at the half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chatham Central would turn things around in the second half, though as <strong>Brooks Albright</strong> and <strong>Turner Albright</strong> led an early second-half surge and cut the deficit little by little. Other shooters got hot along with the Albrights as <strong>Sayvion Burnette </strong>also found himself on the end of a hot shooting spurt as they cut the lead from 18 points to just one point with 2:24 left. Brooks Albright's 3-pointer with 1:31 left gave them a 50-48 lead before Isiah Abdul tied things up at 50. With 4.3 seconds left, Morehead went for the win and <strong>Ayden Haygood</strong> tipped in the game-winner at the buzzer to give them a 52-50 victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In Game 2, Bethany Community hosted Providence Grove in a back-and-forth affair. [player_tooltip player_id='2884677' first='Easton' last='Voltz'] opened up the scoring attack for the Wolves as they started the game on a 13-0 run. <strong>Elijah Hardy</strong> brought the pressure defense and the rest of his team played off his energy. <strong>Kolton Cain</strong> got hot for Providence Grove, though in a key moment as he weathered the storm and saw the deficit shrink to 25-19 at the half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the second half, it was more of the same from BCS as they continued to show they could force turnovers and turn them into easy points as [player_tooltip player_id='2853156' first='Quentin' last='Leach'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2853176' first='Ajak' last='Ajak'] paced the offensive attack. The lead grew once again as they led 47-29 with 10:45 left and from there, they cruised to victory, 58-41. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In Game 3, defending champion Oak Grove opened things up in a battle with Uwharrie Charter Academy. It was a barn burner at the half as both teams didn't give up much, UCA leading 18-17. <strong>Justyce Lawson</strong> showed he could pace the offense while Oak Grove used the shooting prowess of [player_tooltip player_id='2852335' first='Cooper' last='Briggs'] to stay close in the first half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the second half, it looked like UCA would win handedly as they built up a 32-25 lead with 12:17 remaining but Oak Grove would utilize their spark. <strong>Jaiden Summers</strong> came in off the bench and sparked quite the run with his defense and ability to force turnovers and before UCA knew it, Oak Grove led 44-39 with less than 30 seconds left in the game. [player_tooltip player_id='2884617' first='Carson' last='Cromer'] got hot when he needed to and just like that, Oak Grove took home a 46-41 victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the final game of the opening round, Rockingham County took on Oak Ridge Military Academy. It was a backcourt battle as [player_tooltip player_id='2884625' first='James' last='Thomas'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2278321' first='Jamir' last='Loftin'] squared off. Loftin opened things up on a tear as he paced the ORMA offense with his shifty exploits. He led his squad with 22 points though, 26 points came from their side via [player_tooltip player_id='2884625' first='James' last='Thomas']. It was 33-29 at the half with ORMA in the lead but it didn't slow Rockingham down much as they opened the second half on a 19-3 run and never looked back <strong>Camden Lee</strong> also had 10 points and <strong>Braxton Pillard</strong> finished with nine points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bethany Community School punched their ticket to the championship game in convincing fashion over Morehead. <strong>Colbi Ricketts</strong> led the charge with 15 points as the Wolves won 62-32 over Morehead, never once letting the Panthers find their rhythm. At halftime, they trailed 29-22, but the lead quickly blossomed as BCS opened things up and turned up the defense in the second half. They opened on a 12-4 run and held the Panthers to just 10 second-half points to punch their ticket to the championship.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the final semifinal game of the night, Oak Grove and Rockingham squared off as the Grizzlies looked to make it to another championship game as well. The Grizzlies jumped out to a quick 18-5 lead as they moved the ball without care who scored and the lead quickly grew to 27-7 before Rockingham called a timeout to regroup.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>By the half, Oak Grove led Rockingham 31-11. In the second half, Oak Grove kept pouring it on as the lead grew to 38-13 early on. Rockingham would fight back though, and cut the deficit to just 13 points with four minutes left, but Oak Grove was able to hold court and cruise to a 55-39 victory. Six different Grizzlies players made one 3-pointer in the win. They'll face Bethany Community tomorrow evening in a rematch of last year's Battle at BCS Jamboree Championship.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->