Robert Braswell (20) taps one in for the Bengals. (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
BLYTHEWOOD (Feb. 8, 2017) – White Knoll, winless in Region 5-5A play this year, looked to disrupt Blythewood’s region roll Tuesday night.
The Bengals, riding a 7-game win streak in region play, wasn’t about to fall into that trap at home, on Senior Night of all nights.
Blythewood used its press and spread out the scoring as it poured it on the Timberwolves in a 74-34 victory that sets up a regular-season finale at Spring Valley Friday night.
“We want to play like this, we want to get up and down, we want to press and cause trouble, and we want to be a little bit more physical than we’ve been,” Bengals head coach Zeke Washington said. “We tried to carry it to the rim a good bit. They have a good rim protector (White Knoll’s Zach Brabham) and he did a good job.”
Blythewood, which will finish among the top three teams in the region, is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. The key to how high up in the standings is simple: win the game against the Vikings.
Irmo, at 9-2 in the region after beating River Bluff 66-49 Tuesday, is slightly in front of Blythewood (17-5, 9-2). Blythewood is just ahead of Dutch Fork.
The Silver Foxes, who beat Spring Valley 90-68 Tuesday night, could conceivably win the region if both Irmo and Blythewood lose Friday.
“We want to finish strong, but we respect Spring Valley,” Washington said. “They have athletes, good basketball players, and a good coaching staff. We’re going to have to be ready to play.”
If Tuesday’s game could show where Blythewood stands as a team, the Bengals are in tip-top form. All but one player scored at least a point, and all but three players pulled down at least one rebound.
Blythewood let White Knoll open the scoring with a basket, but then the Bengals moved up and down the court with ease on a 20-2 scoring run to finish the first quarter. They put together a 19-7 run in the second to have a 39-11 halftime lead.
The Bengals burst out of the locker room and blasted to a 63-18 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Robert Braswell led the way with 16 points, with Jacoby Bailey putting up 10. The Bengals outrebounded the Timberwolves 34-18.
White Knoll (5-19, 0-11) was led by Kylie Blackett, who scored 10 points.
“White Knoll is a young team and they’ve got a new coach (Devin Liferidge, who coached at Fairfield Central last year),” Washington said. “He’s a good coach and he’s got a good staff, he’ll turn things around there. But we just had our veteran players in this go-around. Our guys played like they’ve played varsity for four years. Some of them have, and his program’s gonna look a lot like ours in a couple of years.”
WK: 4-7-7-16 – 34
BHS: 20-19-24-11 – 74
White Knoll
Kylie Blackett 10, Evans 8, Meggett 7, Booker 6, Brabham 2, Jennings 1.
Blythewood
Robert Braswell 16, Jacoby Bailey 10, Shakir-Harris 8, Riley 7, Jackson 6, Matthews 6, Bowers 5, Breeland 4, Williams 4, Dawkins 3, Thompson 2, Manuel 2, Heatly 1.
