By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
A sharply-dressed man with stylish eyeglasses hyped the crowd and led the chants of “DE-FENSE” on Friday night at Whale Branch, often appearing as if he was a sixth defender for the Warriors, gesturing emphatically and shouting instructions all night long.
A Seabrook superfan? Nah, just new boys hoops coach Antauwn Wade, whose team has taken on his personality — hard-nosed and high-strung — and was able to channel the frenetic style into a 54-45 home win over round-the-corner rival Battery Creek.
Defensive lineman turned post magician Bradford Thompson led a balanced effort with 12 points, Quaeshawn Fields and Keith Chisholm added nine each, and David Evans and Talon Lee each had seven with a key triple to help the Warriors scrap out a hard-fought early-season win.
Evans splashed a 3 to open the scoring, sending the crowd into a frenzy and Wade into a different dimension, as he turned his back to the court and led his bench and fans behind it in chant. The Warriors had the momentum early, but Kanye Freeman scored three straight buckets to force Wade to ask for time to regroup.
Whale Branch edged ahead 21-17 at halftime but it was a back-and-forth scrap until Lee banged a 3 from the corner and slashed to the basket for two more to push the lead to 28-18. Creek clawed back within 31-26 on an Owen Middleton bucket, but Trevionne Blue rained in a corner 3, then Evans came up with a steal and fed Thompson for a nifty finish to push it back to double digits going to the fourth.
Chisholm took over in the final period, scoring six points in the quarter including a three-point play that iced a late comeback effort.
Freeman scored 12 points to go with five steals and Middleton added 10 points and four rebounds for the Dolphins, while Ethan White scored seven points and dished out five assists.
Wade wore his emotions on his chest all night and went through more than one towel wiping sweat from his brow as he worked as hard as his players for every defensive stop, at one point excusing himself to the end of the bench to fume while his assistants lowered the temperature and set the young team back on course.
The Warriors couldn’t complete the sweep of their crosstown rivals, though, falling 59-48 at Beaufort High. Michael Dennison ravaged Whale Branch inside with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Beaufort Academy transfer Sully Gay added 18 points and 13 boards, exposing some limitations.
But Whale Branch went toe-to-toe with the Eagles for most of the night, getting 10 points from Fields and nine from Evans in a game that was within three in the fourth quarter.
Like their enthusiastic young coach, the Warriors have some settling in to do, but they should be a factor in a wide-open Region 7-1A.
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.
