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Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008

Rogers leads Yellow Jackets past Blue Eagles

CLOVER -- The wins don't have to be pretty, says Fort Mill coach Bailey Jackson.

Indeed, Tuesday's 55-37 Region 3-AAAA victory over Clover tested the Yellow Jackets early, and Fort Mill needed some help offensively to march to a perfect 18-0 record, 8-0 in Region 3-AAAA.

"I just told them in the locker room that I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss," Jackson said, "because I've had plenty of pretty losses, and this is better."

On a night when only half of Fort Mill's dynamic duo of Chalmers Rogers and Cam Smith contributed, the Yellow Jackets' attack was bolstered by a 13-point performance from Torrell Priest.

Smith was hampered by foul trouble after picking up his third just seconds into the second half. The steady Rogers dominated inside the paint as he has done for much of the season and finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

Both sides struggled to get points in the first quarter, but the Yellow Jackets closed with a 7-2 rally over the final two minutes. A 3-pointer at the buzzer by Jared White put Fort Mill ahead 17-10, setting up Chalmers for his second-quarter outburst.

Chalmers scored nine of the next 12 points. Mike Kozlowski added a long ball and Andrew Parra chipped in two points to propel the Yellow Jackets to a commanding 31-18 halftime advantage.

With Chalmers out for most of the fourth, Priest scored the final 10 points for Fort Mill. His left-handed scoop layup with 5:03 remaining sparked his late-game showing. Clover scored the next seven points before Priest scored on three straight possessions.

Johntavius McCoulley, who finished with 12 points for the Blue Eagles (7-9, 1-7), nearly matched Priest's fourth quarter. McCoulley scored eight in the quarter and was one of only two Blue Eagles to find the basket. Kendall Sherrill, who was back in the lineup after sitting three quarters last week at Rock Hill after rolling his ankle, hit a 3, his only points on the night, with 3:26 left.

Clover coach Dudley Lybrand knew entering the game it was going to be a tall order to slow Fort Mill's potent offense.

"We tried to play (Fort Mill) out on the perimeter so they wouldn't hit a barrage of 3s," he said. "We knew Rogers was going to get his points. He was going to get his points if we did or didn't (play on the outside)."

The Blue Eagles sat in an in-your-face, man-to-man defense for the majority of the game, forcing the Yellow Jackets to the perimeter, a place where Fort Mill has been red hot for the past couple of games. Clover limited Fort Mill to two 3s, neither of them were made by Smith or Rogers.

Clover forced Fort Mill into 14 turnovers, including eight in the first half.

"They were out-hustling us and getting to the loose balls ... give Clover credit," Jackson said. "They were playing hard."

A relieved Jackson heads back to the film room where he will continue to fine-tune the Yellow Jackets heading into a Friday matchup with Rock Hill. Due to inclement weather over the weekend, Clover travels to Nation Ford for a make-up game at 8 p.m. today.

FORT MILL 55, CLOVER 37

Clover -- Rashad Mitchell 2, Aaron Miller 3, Chris Lindsay 7, Kendall Sherrill 3, Johntavius McCoulley 12, Josh Clawson 4, RJ Phillips 4, Joseph Dover 2

Fort Mill -- Peyton Barker 4, Jared White 3, Mike Kozlowski 3, Garrett Copeland 6, Andrew Parra 2, Torrell Priest 13, Chalmers Rogers 24

Clover 10 8 8 11 -- 37

Fort Mill 17 14 12 12 -- 55

3-pointers -- Clover 2 (Miller, Sherrill), Fort Mill 2 (White, Kozlowski). Team fouls -- Clover 16, Fort Mill 12

Records: Clover 7-9, 1-7 Region 3-AAAA; Fort Mill 18-0, 8-0