Putting on a clinic

The Jackets showed little emotion in running to a 50-23 halftime advantage, running the Cougars out of the gym with a deadly mix of precision and versatile scoring.

"They hit 12 3-pointers in one game, hard to defend any of that," York coach Kendall McCarter said.

"Their two big men hit four of them ... you can't defend that either."

Perhaps the robotic performance was by design -- thanks to a quirk in the schedule, Fort Mill plays another game today. The Jackets might have been holding something back for a road tilt at Northwestern, tipping off at 5:30 p.m.

Or it could have been the Jackets, defending Class AAAA state champs and holders of the state's top ranking, are just simply that good.

"I think it's OK to get fired up," Fort Mill coach Bailey Jackson said, "as long as you turn it into something positive. It gives us a lot of reason to get it done."

There wasn't any whooping or hollering as the Jackets opened a massive lead, just spreading the ball around and closing the defensive blankets on York super-scorer OB Love.

Love echoed his first game against Fort Mill this season with 33 points, but the only other Cougar in double figures was freshman guard Jerry Holmes (10).

Meanwhile, center Chalmers Rogers led the Jackets with 16 points while Torrell Priest (15), Garrett Copeland (12) and Cam Smith (12) joined him in double figures.

Aaron Cooper knocked in three 3-pointers and Jared White added two more, the lead escalating with each swish.

Jackson subbed in five players at once a couple of times and got his subs some playing time as York frantically tried to keep pace. Love was himself, driving the lane or hitting from beyond the arc, but no one else could figure out the Jackets' defense.

The Cougars (11-6, 5-3) had 17 turnovers and were out-rebounded 25-14, their errant shots falling into nothing but home jerseys. Only two Jackets finished without a board as the crowd was treated to a coasting win, much different from the 93-79 scoring-fest the first time the teams clashed.

"Most of the time, we keep (our emotion) bottled up," said Smith, who also had five assists. "But we just love to play ball."

"Coach told us to focus on tonight," added Cooper. "Just to be ourselves and play under control."

The 3-point barrage was hardly unfamiliar, but for once it was the prime source of the Jackets' offense. Used to pounding the ball inside to Rogers or getting putback buckets, Fort Mill found itself open too many times beyond the arc.

"We shot a thousand times better than we did the other night against South Pointe," Jackson said. "It was just one of those nights."

Fort Mill 84

York 59