The Richard Winn varsity boys’ basketball team ended the regular season on a winning note, soaring over the Hawks of Greenwood Christian, 51-37, in a region contest at Greenwood on Monday. In the two games prior, against Mid-Carolina and Oakbrook, the Eagles struggled offensively and fell due to costly turnovers and bigger, quicker opponents.
On Jan. 31, the Eagles hosted the Mid-Carolina Rebels for Senior Night, closing out the home stand for seniors Corey Davis, Logan Gibbons and Reid Johnson. Unfortunately for the home fans, the Rebels played the role of spoiler for the RWA team and its senior trio. The Rebels came “packing” and never slacked off as they commanded the game from the tip-off to the final buzzer, winning 75-34. Struggling to get on track offensively, none of the Eagle players were able to break into double digit scoring. Cameron Cooper led the Eagle offensive charge with nine points, and Joseph Goldin followed with eight. Johnson and Gibbons tallied six apiece while Patrick Pope and John Coleman added three and two points, respectively.
Friday night’s road trip to Spartanburg to re-match against region opponent Oakbrook Prep provided similar results for the Eagles from the day before. Despite the Eagles lighting up the scoreboard by knocking down nine 3-pointers – three apiece from Pope, Mason Gibbons and Cooper — the Oakbrook Knights’ counterattack was led by Matt Moore’s 31-point performance. The Knights sent the visiting Eagles home with a 94-52 loss. Johnson led the Eagles’ offensive show with 15 points. Cooper and Pope added 11 points each and Mason Gibbons scored nine. Goldin, Coleman and Logan Gibbons closed out the 52-point tally with three, two and one point, respectively.
Following the weekend, the RWA teams boarded the bus for one final regular season contest in Greenwood. The 51-37 road victory over Greenwood Christian gave the visiting Eagles a much-needed boost of confidence and earned them a spot in the region playoffs this weekend.
Pope was the go-to spark plug for the Eagle offense, scoring 20 points against the home Hawks. Johnson added 10 points and Logan Gibbons scored nine. The threesome of Mason Gibbons, Coleman and Cooper tallied four points each in the winning effort.
RWA will face the regular season region winner Spartanburg Christian at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Feb. 8), in the first round of region playoffs. The region tournament games will be played at Union County HS on Friday and again on the following Tuesday for the varsity girls’ and varsity boys’ championship games.