Lancaster wins the state title. Bruins defeat North Augusta for first 4A championship
Lancaster continued its winning ways into a historic state championship.
The upstate South Carolina high school won the Class 4A title in a 69-55 victory over North Augusta on Friday at the Florence Center.
It’s not the school’s first SCHSL championship, but this marks the first time in 75 years that the Lancaster County school is victorious in a state boys’ basketball title game.
“Before the season started, I had the opportunity to transfer to a prep school, but I chose to stay and play with my brothers,” Lancaster star Jordan Watford said. “My goal was to win a state championship with my brothers. And we did that (Friday).
“It’s everything for the kids. When we go back next week, we’re gonna be going to the different elementary schools, taking pictures and talking to the kids. We’ve got a lot of younger kids, and they get to see greatness.”
Watford, the standout senior who will continue his career at Queens University, posted 19 points in the win for the Bruins (27-1), who have now won 22 straight games.
After watching Watford’s final middle school game, Jerron Cauthen took a visit to his family’s house. The Lancaster head coach handed the then-eighth-grader a jersey and told him he would bump him up on his depth chart ahead of the playoffs.
The 6-foot-5 combo guard said he wanted to graduate in the Top 10 of his class — academically. Watford has impressed inside the classroom just as much as the hardwood, and he’s off to major in business at the growing Division I university in Charlotte.
“I took a chance with these guys two years ago, they played for the state and obviously came up short, but they learned from it, and have been working ever since,” Cauthen said. “The summertime, every time we have a live period we can work with our guys, they’re always there. Jordan Watford, he’s one of the first ones in, last ones to leave. His leadership is one of the main reasons we’re 27-1.
“When you’ve got the best player in the state who commits to a high school at a time where a lot of kids and families are leaving, going somewhere else, Jordan Watford stayed. He wanted to play with his brothers, he wanted to play for me, and he wanted to win a state championship for his community and school.”
‘It’s a big accomplishment for all of us’
Initially trailing at halftime, Lancaster took a seven-point advantage as the game headed to the fourth quarter.
And the Bruins kept building.
Watford made an aggressive drive to the basket following a timeout early in the final period and put Lancaster ahead by 15 points. The opposition brought its deficit back to single digits within roughly four minutes, but the Bruins’ lead was already insurmountable.
“Battling sickness, injuries, we’ve just had to stay poised and keep doing what we do: Play Lancaster basketball,” junior guard Malik Tinsley, who recorded 15 points, said outside a jubilant Bruins’ locker room. “Sharing the ball, Coach was preaching that, just share the ball. Jordan (Watford) facilitating out there, giving us open shots. All we had to do was play together.”
Columbus Parker — son of Chris “Green Light” Parker, the all-time leading scorer at Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte — knocked down a 3-pointer and drove for a contested layup on consecutive late possessions, keeping the game out of reach inside the final minutes.
As has been the case inside whichever gymnasium in the Carolinas is hosting a Bruins game throughout this season, there was a packed Lancaster contingent in the building Friday. The Florence Center was rocking as reality settled in for those fans over the game’s final minutes, and the gold-jerseyed Bruins mobbed Watford and ran toward their student section as the final buzzer sounded.
“People don’t really know what I’ve been through — two ACL tears in the past two years — so it just means a lot to be able to play with my brothers and win it all,” said Parker, who also finished with 19 points on Friday. “It means a lot to all the players in the community, for sure, because this ain’t never happened before this in history. It’s just great for us to get this win.
“It’s a big accomplishment for all of us, because from Day One, we’ve been saying ‘road to state’ after every practice. And now we did it. This is a great feeling.”
Notable
▪ Lancaster, then nicknamed the Blue Hurricanes, defeated Darlington in the 1949-50 Class A title game to win its only boys’ basketball state championship.
▪ North Augusta (26-2) and Lancaster are ranked as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, respectively, in South Carolina entering Friday.
▪ DaRon Dunbar, the Yellow Jackets’ standout senior named to the all-state team, slammed several dunks in an exciting performance Friday, which also included a blocked 3-point shot in the fourth quarter.
▪ The Bruins lost to Irmo on this stage two years ago in a Class 4A state championship game where Watford scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half.
They said it
“Words cannot describe the feeling that I have right now,” Cauthen said. “For my kids, for their parents, they’ve been around basketball since these kids were very young. Five years old, these kids have been coming around my gym since then. Just to see their hard work and what they’ve done outside of what we do, everybody plays a role. The kids play a role. Parents play a role. School plays a role, and as long as everybody stays in their lane, we’ll be fine, and that’s what we have all done.
“These kids have worked hard, but I love it for our community. People kind of talk negatively about our community all the time, but to see that we produce champions, winners. We’ve done it for our principal, Ms. Rosalyn Mood. She’s going to retire sometime soon — we don’t know when, hopefully not too soon — but she’s got a championship under her belt.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2025 at 5:33 PM.
