By CINDY CROSBY
cindyc4@yahoo.com
The Colleton County varsity boys’ basketball team earned a win over Swansea High School (70-50) in the season home opener Wednesday Dec. 4. The Cougars fell in close back-to-back games over the weekend against Military Magnet (63-57) and Wade Hampton High School (75-72) to drop to 1-2 after the opening week of the season.
Against Swansea, Stephan Gadson scored 29 points to lead the Cougars. In other scoring, Alex Sherrill 13, Jahlil Ellison 12, Alston Sherrill 8, Antwan Griffin 5, Silas Holmes 1, Adam Buckner 2.
In the home loss to Military Magnet Friday Dec. 6, Colleton County led 36-28 at the half. A strong fourth period allowed Military Magnet to go ahead. Gadson again led with 29 points. Also scoring were Alex Sherrill 15, Parker 6, Holmes 4, Alston Sherrill 1, and Ellison 2.
In the close loss to Wade Hampton High School on Saturday Dec. 7, the Cougars had a 10-point advantage at the half. Again, the fourth period proved to be the Cougars’ downfall as Wade Hampton scored 26 points.
Alex Sherrill led Colleton County with 26 points. Silas Holmes added 17 points and Stephan Gadson had 15 points. Other scoring included Ellison 8, Alston Sherrill 4, Parker 2.
“The Swansea game was a great home opener for us,” said Coach Matt Mullins. “We controlled the game from start to finish and improved in some areas we have been working on in practice. We finished the week with two tough opponents in Military Magnet and Wade Hampton. Both games were down to the wire and came down to one or two plays.
“The great thing about both of those tough games is we get to play them again,” said Mullins. “We get a chance to see if we can make enough adjustments to make the close game swing our way. That’s the fun part of coaching. Seeing how much growth you can get out of your players. We’ll find out in the weeks to come. I feel like with our seniors leading the way —they won’t allow us to lose a pair of games and not improve from it.”
Colleton County was scheduled to travel to Battery Creek on Tuesday Dec. 10 and then First Baptist on Friday Dec. 13.
