BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood boys basketball team may have lost out to a region championship because of back-to-back losses to Ridge View, but the Bengals are making it up with a solid run in the 5A Division I playoffs.
Third-seeded Blythewood (22-5) received a first-round bye and opened the postseason with a second-round 73-58 win over No.6 James F. Byrnes Feb. 19, then whipped No.17 Clover 81-50 Saturday to reach the upper state championship game.
The Bengals take on No.1 Dorman (24-4) at the Florence Center Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Blythewood’s postseason resurgence had its start in the second loss to Ridge View Feb. 14.
“The first game was intimidating,” head coach Zeke Washington said about the Blazers’ 64-52 win Feb. 8. The second game, a 77-68 loss, showed Blythewood that it could hang tough if they played hard.
“The second time I thought we played much better at their place. We challenged them a little bit to play hard,” Washington explained, “I don’t think we played that hard against Ridge View the first time, and we played much harder the second time. I thought that gave us a bit of energy because we knew we could play with anybody if we play well because they (Ridge View) are the Cadillac. They’re the BMW.”
The third-seeded Bengals had a first-round bye in the upper state playoffs, and flew past No.6 James F. Byrnes 73-58 in the second round Feb. 19.
Blythewood took a 25-12 lead over the Rebels and never looked back. The Bengals led 40-31 at the half and 55-44 after three quarters.
T.J. Lewis scored a team-high 29 points while Kemuel Little scored 14 points and Tyler Stephens added 13.
Byrnes’ Colt Fowler scored 24 points.
“We tried to stop gambling and just stay solid. And then we tried to have an emphasis on our defensive rebounding,” Washington said about his team’s postseason run.
Keeping to that game plan paid off big in the third round game in the Bengals’ 81-50 win over No.7 Clover Saturday night.
The Blue Eagles kept a slight edge on the Bengals in the first quarter, taking a 20-15 lead late in the period before Stephens and Mujahid Jones scored baskets in the final seconds.
Stephens’ and Jones’ buckets closed the gap to 20-19 at the end of the first quarter and sparked a mammoth 39-6 scoring run through the second quarter and halfway through the third quarter.
Blythewood outscored Clover 22-6 in the second quarter to take a 41-26 lead by halftime. The Bengals stretched that lead to 54-26 after opening the third quarter with a 13-0 run, and finished the third with a 61-38 lead.
Lewis, who was honored before the game after scoring his 1,000th career point against Byrnes, finished the night with 32 points and seven rebounds.
“It was just stops, defensively,” Lewis said about his team’s winning effort. “We gave up a lot of points in the first quarter, but we knew we had to lock into getting stops. We were picking them up top, but we decided to get back and kind of slow their momentum, find their man, and once we did that, they didn’t hit any more shots after that.”
Stephens finished with 12 points and 11 boards.
The Bengals outrebounded the Blue Eagles 29-11, the result of the team sticking to the game plan of getting defensive boards and hustling the ball to the basket.
“That’s the emphasis. We want to rebound the basketball,” Washington said. “And when you rebound you have a chance to win if you don’t give up those second shots, and we’ve got some kids that can do it.”
Blythewood got a scare when senior post player Kemuel Little went down with a concussion in the first quarter, but sophomore Braylon Hayes went in and filled Little’s role the rest of the way.
“He (Hayes) gave us some energy,” Washington said on his filling in for Little. “He just complained about the lights and the sound of the music, but we don’t remember him getting hit. He just started kneeling down in front of us and the trainer said he was scratched.”
J’Shon Watson led Clover with 18 points. Devin Agard had 16 points.
It’s the first state semifinal appearance for Blythewood since 2018, when the Bengals lost to Irmo in the 5A lower-state championship game on a last-second tip-in. The year before, Blythewood beat Irmo in the lower-state final, but fell by one point to Dorman in the 2017 5A state championship.
“They do so much stuff and they run so many different things,” Washington said about this year’s Cavaliers. “They are just a fantastic team, fantastic program. (Head coach Thomas) Ryan does a great job.”
Lewis, who averages 26.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, means much more to Blythewood than just points, rebounds, or any other on-court measurement, Washington said. The 6-4 senior is just now getting NCAA Division I attention after a breakout senior year.
“He took a lot of criticism last year, but he wasn’t healthy. He came in healthy this season, got in the weight room, all that stuff, and he’s been the heart and soul of our program,” Washington said. “He’s a good teammate, he’s a good leader, and I know some of the boys will be mad when I say this, but he’s probably the best shooter that I’ve coached.”
For Lewis, the matchup against the Cavaliers, who beat Blythewood in the playoffs last year, is special. And with the likelihood of a rematch against No.1 seed Ridge View, which plays No.2 James Island in the 5A Division I lower-state final Saturday, Lewis said he’s pumped.
We lost to Dorman last year, so we want a little get-back,” he said. “But we’ve put in a lot of work for this, so we’re ready to lock in and get this win Saturday.”
Feb. 19
Byrnes – 12-19-13-14 — 58
Blythewood – 25-15-15-18 — 73
JFB: Colt Fowler 21, Sukhi Singh 10, Evan Enos 10, McClintock 8, Cullen 6, Degler 3. B: T.J. Lewis 29, Kemuel Little 14, Tyler Stephens 13, Mack 5, Wyche 4, Jones 3, Davis 2, Sims 2, Major 1.
Saturday
Clover – 20-6-12-12 — 50
Blythewood – 19-22-20-20 — 81
C: J’Shon Watson 18, Devin Agard 16, Parks 9, Stewart 3, Garcia 2, Galeotta 2. B: T.J. Lewis 32, Tyler Stephens 12, Major 7, Sims 7, Hayes 5, Mack 5, Davis 4, McQuaker 3, Wyche 2, Jones 2, Grant 1, Tennant 1.
