Rock Hill boys hold on to beat Fort Mill in hotly contested region matchup
Rock Hill withstood a late push by Fort Mill to secure a 53-50 win over the Yellow Jackets Tuesday night.
Rock Hill trailed 13-9 after the first quarter, but a 13-6 second quarter in the Bearcats’ favor gave Rock Hill a three-point lead at halftime.
The second half went similar to the first. Rock Hill lead for most of the half but was unable to extend its lead beyond six points as Fort Mill battled to keep the game close.
Rock Hill’s senior guard Malik Ashe led all scorers with 17 points, including two late free throws to ice the win.
The win stops a five-game slide for Rock Hill (7-16, 2-5) and the Bearcats will next play at Nation Ford at 7:45 p.m. on Feb. 2. Meanwhile, Fort Mill’s (13-10, 3-4) losing streak extends to three games and will look to get back in the win column at home against Spring Valley at 8 p.m. on Feb. 2.
More about the game
The win comes as a breath of fresh air for a Rock Hill team currently not in a playoff spot. The Bearcats were 3-7 in their previous 10 games, and injuries have cut a roster of 14 by a third.
Tuesday night’s win felt like everything came together, but head coach Douglas Pearson knows his team is going to need more of those performances over its final three games to earn a postseason berth.
“The biggest thing is belief, the kids just believing that we can do it,” he said. “We’re down to 10 guys. We have a lot of injuries, but I tell the guys all the time, we got more than enough. No matter how many guys we got, we got more than enough, and we just got to believe it and continue to go out and execute the game plan for 32 minutes.”
For Fort Mill, it’s another close loss in what has been a frustrating stretch of play.
After winning each of their previous six games, the Yellow Jackets have lost four of their last five; all four losses were either in overtime or by five points or fewer.
In Tuesday night’s loss, the Yellow Jackets had several chances to take a lead and extend it but could not convert.
Head coach Myron Lowery knows how tough the region is; only three games separate the first place and last place teams.
However, he feels like his team still needs to focus on making the easy plays.
“We’re in every game, we’re just not making simple plays,” Lowery said. “We don’t need to make any ESPN highlight, we’re just not making basic plays. We have very untimely turnovers, we’re not making free throws, simple stuff like that.”
“The first thing we’re going to do is meet, watch film and break it down, and have a team discussion within the team and what we all need to do better. And then have two great practices, and our preparation will be great for Spring Valley, but we ultimately have to execute the plan, got to make plays when it comes down to it. And we’re just talking about simple plays. Play defense, make some simple plays, run our stuff, because our stuff will get us good shots.”
Fort Mill currently sits fourth in the region.
This story was originally published January 30, 2024 at 9:48 PM.