FIRST HALF JANUARY BASKETBALL UPDATE (2012)

Since we last posted a Tribe Blitz blog, the Gaffney Indians have been rolling. Since their win over Rye (NY) in the Beach Ball Classic the Tribe has rolled to four more victories. They have won a total of five games in a row. The last four in very impressive fashion. Let's look at the games.

Union County @ Gaffney..... The Tribe played host to the Yellow Jackets on Friday January 6th and displayed a more aggressive defensive performance and blasted Union County 75 to 27. They played with a lot more intensity on defense and they also shot the ball better than they did at the beach. They won their second game in a row and moved their record to 8 and 4 heading into the first Region 3 game of the season.

Rock Hill @ Gaffney..... The 6th ranked Bearcats came into The Burial Ground, on Tuesday January 10th, with a lot of talent and a lot of confidence. They also came in with a 13 and 1 record. The Tribe got off to a fast start and built a 36 to 21 lead at the half and rolled to an 81 to 63 victory. The Indians were led by super sophomore L.J. Peak with 19 points and Senior Michael Wright with 16 points. The Bearcats left Gaffney with a 13 and 2 record and 0 and 1 record in Region 3. The Tribe won their 3rd game in a row and raised their record to 9 and 4 overall and 1 and 0 in Region 3.

Lancaster @ Gaffney..... The 2nd ranked Bruins rolled into The Burial Ground with a 15 and 1 record with their only loss a 79 to 72 loss to unbeaten Olympic out of Charlotte in the Upwards Classic. They also rolled into town with superstar junior Sindarius Thornwell lighting it up from all over. The Bruins had defeated the Indians twice last season in two high spirited games. This has really been a bitter rivalry over the last 7 or 8 years and the Tribe wanted to beat them bad. The Indians got a strong offensive and defensive performance from L.J. Peak and went into the locker room with a 33 to 24 halftime lead. The Bruins started the 3rd quarter with a 11 to 0 run to surge ahead 35 to 33. The Indians withstood the Lancaster run and regained the lead at 47 to 44 after the 3rd quarter. The Tribe then outscored the Bruins 25 to 12 in the 4th quarter and they even fouled Lancaster star Sindarius Thornwell out midway of the 4th. The Tribe made a big statement by defeating 2nd ranked Lancaster, in impressive fashion, 72 to 56. They also held Thornwell to 17 points. L.J. Peak outplayed the Lancaster star with 21 points and three impressive dunks. Gaffney moved their record to 10 and 4 and 2 and 0 in Region 3. The Lancaster Bruins left Cherokee County with a crushing defeat and a 15 and 2 overall record and 1 and 1 in Region 3.

Gaffney @ Boiling Springs..... This game had letdown and trap game written all over it. The Indians had defeated the Bulldogs by 49 points back in December and they were coming off two huge wins over Top 10 ranked Rock Hill and Lancaster. It was a very lackadaisical performance by the Tribe, as they trailed by a 41 to 39 score heading to the 4th quarter. The Indians outscored the Bulldogs 19 to 6 in the 4th quarter to leave Boiling Springs with a 58 to 47 victory and a 5 game winning streak. Junior Kerry Williams led the Tribe with 14 points and L.J. Peak added 12 points. Sometimes you just have to find a way to win games when you are not ready to play. The Indians end the first half of their January schedule with a 11 and 4 overall record and 2 and 0 in Region 3.

My View From The Stands..... I saw the Indians play back in December and I thought they had potential to be good when they get their whole team together. With Quinshad Davis back with the team, as he gets more into basketball shape and with the emergence of big bodied Kerry Williams and Ron Best being forces inside, I really like this team. If they will continue to get better and play with intensity on the defensive end, I think they are a serious threat to win Region 3 4A and make a serious run in the playoffs. I felt like these last four games would tell us a lot about this team and it did. The schedule gets even tougher, the rest of January, with four of five games on the road. Let's see what we think on February 1st.

Upcoming Schedule..... Tuesday 1/17 @ Clover, Friday 1/20 at home against Spartanburg, Tuesday 1/24 @ Northwestern, Friday 1/27 @ Rock Hill and Tuesday 1/31 @ Lancaster.

The next basketball edition of Tribe Blitz will be on Wednesday February 1st.

Until Next Time.

DECEMBER BASKETBALL UPDATE (2011)

The Christmas and New Years holidays have come and gone for another year. I am still in denial at the way the Tribe's football season ended. I keep thinking that I am going to wake up from a bad dream. We are not going to discuss the football season today, we are going to update the December part of the Tribe's basketball season. Let's take a look back.

The Week Of The State Championship Football Game..... The Indians opened the season against Dorman at home. With six basketball players still playing football, the Indians played the game with only 7 players and fell to the Cavaliers 63 to 49.

On Friday night, the eve of the State Championship Game, the Tribe played host to Byrnes. The last time we played Byrnes in basketball was the shocking loss to them in the 1st round of the playoffs back in February. Still with only 7 players dressed to play, the Indians won the game 60 to 54.

The Week After The State Championship Game Loss..... The Tribe played host to Boiling Springs. They had all of the football players for this game but, they were not in basketball shape yet. The Indians blasted the Bulldogs 85 to 36. Three days after playing in the State Championship football game at Clemson, Quinshad Davis scored 15 points against the Bulldogs. This is the only game that Quinshad Davis was able to play in during the December schedule. He played in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolina's and then played in the Offense Defense Allstar Game in Dallas, Texas the week after Christmas.

On Friday night, after beating Boiling Springs on Tuesday, the Tribe traveled over to play Dorman. With the football players still not in basketball shape and with Quinshad Davis not playing at all they fell in a close game to the Cavaliers 53 to 47.

The Following Week..... The Tribe played two more road games. They played at Byrnes and pounded the Rebels 77 to 55. The next game had them traveling down to Union County and blowing out the Yellow Jackets 85 to 45.

The Substation Holiday Invitational..... The week of Christmas the Indians held their annual Substation Tournament. In round one the Indians ran past Spartanburg Christian Academy 80 to 56 and York blew out Chesnee to set up a Championship match-up between the Indians and the Cougars. In the Championship game the Indians ran out to a 22 to 5 lead after the 1st quarter and never looked back, as they routed the Cougars 96 to 65 to capture the Substation Title. L.J. Peak was the tournament MVP with 26 points against Spartanburg Christian and 30 points against York. The Tribe ended the Pre-Christmas part of their schedule with a 6 and 2 record.

The Beach Ball Classic..... The week after Christmas the Tribe took off to Myrtle Beach to participate in the prestigious Beach Ball Classic. It is probably the best High School basketball tournament in the nation. The Tribe was still without one of their best players for this tournament, as Quinshad Davis was in Dallas, Texas for the Allstar football game.

Game 1 of the tournament the Indians played the 2nd ranked team from Kentucky Ballard High School. Ballard shot 12 of 24 from the 3 point line and 54% for the game and defeated the Tribe 91 to 75. Gaffney's super sophomore L.J. Peak scored 40 points in the game.

Game 2 of the tournament the Indians fell to Miami Senior by a score of 61 to 51. Peak scored 13 points for the Tribe in this game.

Game 3 of the tournament the Indians played Rye (NY). The Indians trailed at the half 32 to 28 but, they rallied to get the victory 67 to 56. L.J. Peak led the Tribe with 21 points. The Indians went 1 and 2 in the 2011 Beach Ball Classic that was said to have their strongest field in a few years.

The Indians finished their December part of the schedule with a record of 7 and 4. I really believe with the tough competition that they have played and when they get Quinshad Davis back full time, they will have a very good basketball team again this season. I see them as one of the favorites in Region 3 4A and I think they have a chance to make a run in the playoffs. First things first they need to keep improving and take it one game at a time.

The upcoming schedule has the Indians playing 4 games in the next eight days. Friday January 6th they host Union County. Tuesday January 10th they open Region 3 play by hosting Rock Hill. Friday January 13th they have a showdown with fellow Region 3 favorite Lancaster at The Burial Ground. Then on Saturday January 14th they close out non-region play at Boiling Springs.

My next Tribe Blitz will be on Monday January 16th, as we look at these four games and look ahead to the next few games.

Until Next Time.