Through the non-region part of the schedule, there has been one local team that has stood out as a bit of a surprise. The Boiling Springs Bulldogs, led by a trio of scoring threats that include their 6 foot 8 senior power forward Isaiah Atkins, senior shooting guard Luke Underwood, and junior point guard Brayln Gilliam, came into the start of their region 2-5A slate on Friday night with a 7-2 record and on a 5-game winning streak. Through the first 9 games of the season, Boiling Springs had been averaging 69 and a half points per game. In short – this team, which is now in year number 4 under Head Coach Craig Martin’s leadership, is one of the most talented and experienced they have had in recent years, and it has shown.
On the other side, Spartanburg has been doing a good job of building off the momentum of an 11-16 campaign last season with a 5-3 start of their own, averaging around 66 points per game. Coach Zac Rich’s Vikings feature a plethora of seniors – all with the capability to score the ball – that includes shooting guard Johnston Abrams, point guard Zeke Bell-Boyd, guard Dyllan Harris, and power forward Aiden Olley.
While both of these two sides have had a solid offensive start to the season, on the defensive side of the ball, they have struggled at times in their non-region stretch, which made this always-intense rivalry to open region play a key test for both squads and adding more interest to what was already an intriguing matchup.
For the Bulldogs, things started off in very similar fashion to their last time out, where they overcame a terrible start that carried over throughout the entire first quarter of the game on Tuesday night to beat Union County 75-52. On Friday, Boiling Springs did not score for the first 2 minutes of the game while the Vikings went on an 8-0 run. Boiling Springs was finally able to break into the scoring column when Atkins split a pair of free throws to make for an unconventional 8-1 start. That one free throw broke the lid off the hoop for the Bulldogs and the story quickly changed.
Brayln Gilliam got hot the rest of the quarter, finishing it with 10 of Boiling Springs’ 15 points in the opening 8 minutes, which was enough to help keep the Bulldogs in striking distance, starting the 2nd quarter down 20-15.
The hot hand transferred to Luke Underwood in the 2nd period, as he began to do what he does best – shoot threes with confidence whenever he got a good look. Boiling Springs started off the frame with 4 consecutive triples – 2 of which came from Underwood. Gilliam and Tyvion Hall also hit one in that stretch, which helped the Bulldogs to take control of the game, albeit briefly.
The battle was tight the rest of the way, with neither side leading by more than 4 points while the lead changed hands multiple times. Most noteworthy as the Bulldogs took a 35-34 lead into the half is that the Vikings had 4 players contribute in the 2nd quarter with a basket – but no threes, making Boiling Springs’ hot streak to open the period the difference.
That same story carried over through the third quarter. The Bulldogs hit two more threes in the period– one from Underwood and another from Imri Logan. But, they were only able to hit one more the rest of the way. Offensively, Spartanburg once again kept in it with a combined 9 points from Abrams and junior center/power forward Brishawn Young, and in the 4th quarter changed the game on the defensive end by taking away Boiling Springs’ ability to shoot threes.
The Vikes also forced the Dogs to earn their keep at the line, fouling each of their “big 3” scoring threats – in particular Isaiah Atkins, who went to the line three times in the period. For a while, that strategy looked to work in the Vikings’ favor as BSHS combined to go 4 for their first 7 after Atkins split his first two trips to the stripe. The Bulldogs ended up 7 for 10 in the final 8 minutes of the game, but only got contributions from 2 more players – a combined 7 points that included another Hall three pointer in the waning seconds.
Spartanburg took advantage of the lack of offensive production and some sloppiness down the stretch, getting some clutch baskets from Abrams and Young – the duo that combined to lead the Vikings with 22 and 15 points respectively – to outscore the Bulldogs 18-14 and take a huge 66-63 road win to open region 2-5A play at 1-0.
“Our guys have had to learn how to win tough games”, said Rich after the victory. “We have stressed that in order to build a winning program, you have to learn how to win. We have been on both sides of the results column, but we have continually given ourselves a chance. Throughout this game, we stressed the importance of the simple plays winning the game. That is as simple as keeping the guy in front of you or getting the necessary box out. We needed to continue to focus on the details to get the stops we needed to win the game. We did that down the stretch and gained some confidence that naturally comes from winning a tough region contest on the road.”
On the other side, Boiling Springs’ Craig Martin said that the way his team handled the pressure in the final moments of the game is his responsibility as the coach.
“Spartanburg deserved to win this game”, said Martin. “They did not let emotions get in the way of their execution. They made shots when we didn’t. They trusted one another much more than we did and executed much better than us down the stretch. I was impressed with how well they played and they deserve all the credit. But I was extremely disappointed in our defensive play tonight. It’s our 4th year here and the guys are more familiar with our system and expectations for them. But, we still have a lot of growing to do as a team. Our guys are giving a great effort, but we have to be more connected as a team. It is nice to have a balanced scoring attack. Brayln, Isaiah, and Luke have all done a good job on offense. But, they are going to have to pick it up on the defensive end if we are going to compete in this region. We can fix it and we will. It comes back to coaching and I will do a better job of getting our guys ready on the defensive end.”
With the region opener in the rearview, the Vikings will look to keep the momentum going on Tuesday night with a road trip to Greer to face Riverside. Boiling Springs’ road gets even tougher as they will face off against the Dorman Cavaliers, who are fresh off Coach Thomas Ryan’s 400th win with them, on the road. Tip off is tentatively set for 7:30 PM for both games.
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