Pictured are Easley High School coaches Vivian Nguyen (left) and Ivan Raymond (far right) with their dedicated seniors last week on Senior Night. Karsyn Waldrop (on crutches) led the way on this big night at EHS. Other seniors on the team are Meya McKinney (3), Rebekah Eron (10), Olivia Gramblin (12), Karsyn Bigham (15) and Anaya Sligh (23).
Courtesy photo
This is my first full season of covering the local high school hoops.
So, I wanted to take a quick timeout and reflect a bit on some of the highlights I’ve bumped into.
I’ve got to start with the Easley girls basketball team’s upset over Pickens (38-28). I’ve never seen the hometown crowd into it so much – the parents and fans had signs up in the bleachers, the EHS dads were helping out the refs (ha!) on the calls they thought were bad calls. Several players on the EHS girls team made some unbelievable plays.
I loved it!
You can bet they would have had a couple more wins this season, too, had Karsyn Waldrop not got injured.
The Senior Night for the EHS boys team was also impressive with Jaylan Henry (#0), Will Patton (#1), Carson Freeze (#2) and Jakobie Ginns (#24).
I’ve got to throw some extra props out to Ginns who lost at least 25 pounds before the season started. He got all emotional when he was announced during pregame on Senior Night.
“Jakobe brings all of the intangibles,” said EHS coach Derrell Jackson. “He brings great energy every day with practice and the games. He has the best post moves of anybody on the team. He does a great job using his body. He is not super athletic, but he has great footwork and gives you ball fakes. He goes up strong and is relentless in the paint. He’s like that every day and in practice. Always upbeat and that is rare for a kid to always be upbeat.”
The EHS boys basketball team drew an at-large bid to play in the playoffs and will travel today (on Wednesday) to play RidgeView High School in the Columbia area. Ridgeview is the No. 14 team in the nation.
Junior sharpshooter Ethan Crews is currently leading the Green Wave basketball team with 18.2 points a game on 45.7 percent shooting from the field (172-of-376 accuracy), 41 percent accuracy from 3-point land (77-of-181) and 83 percent from the free-throw line (50-of-60). Rounding out the stats for Crews are 4 rebounds a game, 2.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
The Green Wave boys basketball team is 9-17 on the season.
Several of the EHS boys basketball, team, have AAU tryouts coming up.
Potential with Patton: The “upside” for Will Patton in football is off the charts. You’ve already heard that he’s officially signed to play football next season at Presbyterian College.
It’s unbelievable that Patton, a 6-foot-3 and 195-pound receiver in football, only played two years of high school football at Easley. Green Wave Coach Jordan Durrah told a classic story about how it all evolved.
“He was a track and basketball guy kind of just walking the halls,” said Coach Durrah. “There were some coaches who were able to convince him to come out and some former players were able to convince him. He finally came out and showed up in August. It was the best present ever. He ended up being our team MVP.”
Durrah went on to talk about the potential for Patton on the college gridiron.
“He’s really just getting started,” Coach Durrah said. “There’s no telling what he’s going to do in college. His coaches are excited about that at Presbyterian (College). They feel like he can get on campus and do some special things.”
Patton had two-year totals in football of 91 catches at receiver, 1,564 yards and 28 total touchdowns. Patton was a 2-time First Team All-Region player and this past year was named to the All-State Team.
All of this while holding down 3.9 GPA.
Super Bowl notes: In overtime, as you’ve probably heard, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in the Super Bowl on Sunday night. Former Clemson standouts Cornell Powell and Justyn Ross of the Chiefs are also Super Bowl champs!
Clemson Hoops: Last week was a great week for the Clemson men’s basketball team after posting road wins at the University of North Carolina (80-76) and at Syracuse (77-68). PJ Hall turned in his sixth double-double of the season and 13th of his career.
Matt Martin, a 1995 Clemson grad, had this to say right before the Tigers defeated Syracuse.
“They (Clemson) need to finish the final nine games at least 6-3,” Martin said. “They have four road games, so they’ll need to steal one on the road and win all five at home.”
The Tigers are currently 16-7 on the season and 6-6 in the ACC play.
Upcoming games for Clemson:
Wednesday, Feb. 14: University of Miami at Clemson at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 17: NC State at Clemson, 7:45 p.m.
Playing for Coach (Bill) Carr: Dick Jones, a 1964 graduate of Easley High School, still cherishes the time that he played football for the Green Wave and Coach Carr. Jones played on the 1962 EHS state championship football team as an offensive tackle and a defensive end.
“Coach Carr was a wonderful teacher,” said Jones. “He required that you give your very, very best. He was probably the smartest coach that I’ve ever run into. He taught most of the subjects in high school that most people would not think a foootball coach (would teach) – physics, chemistry and I think he also taught trigonometry. He was extremely bright and that transferred to his football planning and coaching as well. I think he had a lot of impact on the young men who played for him.”
Carr piled up a total of 242 wins in the state of South Carolina.
About the play of teammate Benny Galloway, Carr added, “He was our star. In the first game in 1963, he was hit running the ball in Georgetown (South Carolina) where we were playing. His knee was blown out and he had to have surgery, and he didn’t play his senior year. I still see him occasionally and he’s still built like a tank.”
Youth Basketball: Saturday morning hoops is alive and well in Easley.
Last Saturday, the local all-star teams hit the court at the Park and Recreation facility. Listed below are the current all-star rosters.
Girls 10U: Kaylee Bradley, Ava Bryant, Madalyn Broome, Arabella Burnett, Jaliyah Butler, Aubrey Cobb, Jaliyah Cooper, Aubrie McCollum, Ragan Petit and Carly Thompson.
Girls 12U: Kaydence Bingham, Ayda Brown, Kinleigh Chuites, Lucia Gendron, Promise Giles, Kylie Harris, Cianna Littlejohn, Henleigh Morgan, Kori Moses, Ila Murray, Brooklyn Shirley and Harmon Wideman.
Boys 10: Braxton Bandy, Davis Brown, Kamari Durham, Damarian Earle, Everett Hawkins, Kylen Henderson, Gary Hendricks Jr., D’Artanyon Mickens, Walker Rodgers, Parker Searcy, Easton Turner and Jamere Wilson.
Boys 14U: Conner Bigham, Jaxen Borho, Caleb Brewer, James Cisson, Nolan Dorriety, Corbin Hammonds, Kayden McKay, Braylon Moore, Max Morgan, Dylan Pearson, Landon Taylor and Isaiah Williams.
(You can reach Jeff Holt at (864) 855-0355.
Reach Jeff Holt at (864) 855-0355.