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.