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Boy’s High School Basketball playoffs are in full swing. In the local area, regional tournaments are underway with many matchups Thursday night Class 1A and 3A.
Class 1A
In Class 1A, there are four regional semifinals matchups tonight.
The first matchup is Hawthorne vs. Williston. Hawthorne comes in as the higher seed and is led by freshman guard CJ Ingram. Ingram is averaging 14.8 points per game, 6.2 rebounds and 6 assists. Leading his team in all three categories. JT Tipton and Kyler Lamb carry the load for Williston with 14.8 and 12.3 points per game.
Greg Bowie, the head coach at Hawthorne, gave his thoughts on his team this year and their upcoming matchup against Williston.
Coach Bowie commented on the two teams’ similar play styles.
Bowie is expecting a hard-fought match as both teams are aggressive on the defensive end. He references that Williston likes to run a press defense similar to the one Hawthorne likes to run. Bowie mentioned later that “teams that like to press don’t like to be pressed,” so it will be interesting to see who reacts better to the opposition’s game plan.
Then Bowie dove into what his team’s greatest strength is.
The other class 1A matchups on Thursday night include Bell and Bradford, Dixie County and Madison County, and Newberry and Trenton. All four games are slated for 7 p.m., as four teams will inch closer to a shot at the state tournament by the end of the night.
Class 3A
In Class 3A, PK Yonge matches up against Windermere Prep in the regional quarterfinal.
PK Yonge Head Coach Boderick Johnson talked about his team’s mindset going into the tournament.
It’s a clean slate because previous records do not matter. It does not take into account anything that will give an advantage over and opponent. Everybody in the state except for Class 1A is kind of going for a five game season at this time.
Coach Johnson gave his scouting report on Windermere Prep for Thursday.
Windermere Prep historically have been a really good program over the years. They are a sound, discipline team. Got great size and length. They are going to be a very good opponent for us. They have been playing pretty well throughout the entire season as well. I think we can match up well with them, we are prepared. We are going to take that trip down to winter Garden this evening with the mindset we are going to come back with the win.
The game time is at 7 p.m. tonight.
Class 4A
The last matchup of the night is in Class 4A. The Santa Fe Raiders take on the Gadsen County Jaguars in the regional quarterfinals.
Santa Fe Head Coach Glen Banks takes us through his team’s identity ahead of the playoff game. Shouting out Junior Guard Dontrell Jenkins, who is averaging 18 points per game, for his work this season.
Coach Banks explained one of his team’s strengths is never being out of a game. His team always believes they can come back and he credits that to his returning players from last season’s team.
Banks gave his thoughts on Gadsen and what his team needs to expect on Thursday.
The game time is at 7 p.m. Thursday.
This is the final matchup of six different playoff games scheduled for tonight. Six teams will move one step further to their ultimate goal of making the state tournament. Who will stay alive?
