‘An unbelievable year’: Fort Mill falls to Ridge View in 3rd round of SC playoffs
From nearly half-court, Ridge View’s Xavier Moultrie lobbed an alley-oop to the left corner of the backboard and watched GG Jackson — his 6-foot-7, 5-star of a recruit of a teammate — go get it.
And he did.
That fourth-quarter slam was one of a half-dozen dunks Jackson put away on Monday night, and his impressive showing in the third round of the South Carolina high school playoffs proved to be too much for Fort Mill to handle.
The Yellow Jackets fell to Ridge View, 63-44 — punctuating what head coach Dwayne Hartsoe called “an unbelievable year.”
“I thought our kids competed,” Hartsoe told reporters postgame. “It’s been an unbelievable year. Tonight doesn’t take away from what we’ve done this season.”
Fort Mill ends its 2021-22 season at 21-6 (7-1 in Region 3-5A). It won a share of the Region 3-5A title and earned a No. 1 seed in the state playoffs.
And a lot of what made that happen was on display early against Ridge View.
The Yellow Jackets hung tough in the first half. After allowing a 17-9 lead in the first quarter, they drew the game to as close as four points in the second thanks to a few junior Gabe Tooper scores, including an and-one late in the period.
But Ridge View ultimately righted the ship, held onto a 27-19 leading heading into halftime — and then dominated the rest of the way.
The Blazers, who’ve won three state championships the last four years, were pretty much better on all fronts on Monday night. They were bigger and stronger than their Fort Mill opponents. They forced turnovers in the backcourt.
And when all else failed, they tossed the ball high Jackson — and the state’s top recruit in the Class of 2023 didn’t disappoint.
“We didn’t have our best stuff tonight, playing a really good team,” Hartsoe said. “Even to be competitive in a game like that, you gotta do everything right, and we did a lot of things wrong. But a lot of that is because of how good they are.”
Fort Mill, one of the better shooting teams in York County and the state, only hit four threes on Monday. The team had six different players score: Tooper and Darryl Carrington each finished with 12 points. Will Stumpf and Zach Jennings each had seven. Collin Thompson finished with two.
And Kyle Neibch, the team’s leading scorer on the year, finished with four. He was subbed out with a few seconds left in the game to a standing ovation.
“I think he deserved that,” Hartsoe said. “Done everything the right way. Not a real vocal kid, but leads by example. He’s been a really good player for us for two years, and I just felt like we owed that to him.”
Ridge View saw six players besides Jackson score: Moultrie finished with 14, Tray Franklin finished with 10, Gamar Powers finished with eight, Brice Cohen finished with six, and Myles Squirewell and Nicholas Letthand finished with two apiece.
The crowd was pretty much sold out on Monday night. The Fort Mill student section was as boisterous as it had been for the team’s two previous playoff games, and Ridge View brought a loud and large contingent, too.
Hartsoe, who’s in his 30th year as a coach in some capacity, told reporters postgame that a lot of the atmosphere can be credited to the product his players put out on the court.
“I just told those kids in there that the last four games, it has been unbelievable the amount of support we’ve had in this gym,” Hartsoe said. “Our student section. Our community members who have come out. There have been people who have been out at our games who I don’t think have been to a basketball game in 10, 15 years, and they came out to support these kids.
“And so I think when you do things the right way, they’ll do that.”
What’s next?
Ridge View will play for an Upper State championship at Bob Jones University in Greenville on Saturday.
This story was originally published February 21, 2022 at 10:19 PM.
.jpeg)