By Justin Jarrett
When Battery Creek hired C.J. Brown to take over its boys basketball team in 2019, there was hope. Hope that Brown, who once starred in the Blue and Gold, could restore the once-proud program to the lofty status it held for years under John Drafts, back before Whale Branch Early College High School opened and split the talent pool.
Four years in, it was reasonable to wonder whether it was going to work out.
The Dolphins went 16-60 over that span, and it would have been worse if not for an 8-3 record in the abbreviated 2020-21 season, when the roster was bolstered by a pair of key transfers. When they followed up a 2-22 campaign in 2021-22 with a 3-18 mark a year later, it seemed like the ship was going down.
Then Ethan Cox came onto the scene as a budding big man with a bright future, followed a year later by a loaded Class of 2026. The Dolphins were able to grind out an 11-12 record in 2023-24 but took a small step back a year later, going 10-13. But the foundation was in place.
But this year … this was the year.
Cox is a senior and his game has matured remarkably along with his body. He’s a matchup nightmare for most teams and averages 15.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and if opposing defenses pay him too much mind, he has teammates who will make them pay. The sensational junior class led by Michael Williams (14.2 ppg), Tyjuan Simmons (13.4 ppg), and Tyrese Smith (10.3 ppg) has grown up, too, even within the course of this season.
The Dolphins were overwhelmed in the early minutes of an early-season matchup with May River in the John Drafts BC Classic, as the backcourt foundered and the Sharks carved up a tentative Creek defense. They played scared and lost by 20.
That was only six weeks ago, but the Dolphins looked like a different team Friday night in the Palace. They withstood relentless effort from a good Orangeburg-Wilkinson team all night, never shying from the fight in an intensely physical contest, and when it came to crunch time, they took over.
With a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter fueling a 44-41 win, the Dolphins put themselves in position to claim the Region 6-3A title if they can win out, which is no easy task. They were set to play their last regular-season home game Tuesday against Hanahan before traveling to North Charleston on Friday and finishing the regular season at Orangeburg-Wilkinson on Feb. 11.
Three teams from Region 6-3A began the season in the S.C. Basketball Coaches Association’s top 10, and none of them was Battery Creek. No one outside Brown’s inner circle expected the Dolphins to contend for the crown, but they never resigned themselves to another fourth-place finish.
They want to conquer it all.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.