By Thomas Grant Jr.
The Cayce Roundball Classic has become the holiday basketball tournament for Lexington
County and high school basketball fans.
Held at Brookland-Cayce High School, the 4-day event invites 16 teams from throughout the
state and Georgia to compete over the Christmas break.
The host team Bearcats made the most of their tournament. They finished second in the
American bracket with a 2-1 record.
Brookland-Cayce opened with a 70-50 win over Hammond School. Trailing 33-28 at halftime,
the Bearcats regrouped to outscored the Skyhawks 37-22 in the second half.
All-Tournament selection A.J. Edwards had a game-high 24 points and Carter Jackson added
14.
“I knew Hammond was going to be a really good program,” Brookland-Cayce head coach
Roberts Wells said. “Coach (David) Ross does a good job with those jobs. They play hard. It
kind of caught us off-guard the first half.
“We really didn’t play good basketball. A lot of guys doing one-on-one things. But we kind of had
a good little talk at halftime and the guys came out in the third quarter and played really good
defense. We made some big time shots.”
A slow start was not a problem for Brookland-Cayce in its 82-28 win over C.A. Johnson in the
semifinal. The Bearcats jumped out to a 42-17 halftime lead by led by Nate Johnson’s 20 points.
Edwards finished with 12 and Beckett Riley had 10 to send them to the bracket final against J.F.
Byrnes. The Bearcats fell 76-55 to the undefeated Rebels, who finished Class 5A runner-up to
Lexington last season.
Colt Fowler was named the American Bracket Most Valuable Player and teammate Sukhi Singh
made the All-Tournament team.
Cross Creek (Ga.) won the National bracket after defeating Fort Dorchester (73-47), Lakewood
(59-46) and Indian Land (58-51). Frashad Tisby was named National Bracket MVP and Ty’Jai
Heard was named to the All-Tournament team.
River Bluff and Lexington both finished 1-2 at the Classic. Guards Yasir Cromer and Kaleb
Evans were named to the National and American All-Tournament teams, respectively.
In girls basketball, the Lady Bearcats won the Carvers Bay Girls Christmas Showcase in
Georgetown. They opened with a 60-31 win over Ashley Hall.
Freshman Dalacia Rouse had 24 points, 17 rebounds and five steals and Maci Cobb and
Kamryn Etheredge each had 13 points.
The following day, Rouse posted another double-double (21 points, 12 rebounds and seven
assists) in a 65-39 win over Andrews. Etheredge led the Lady Bearcats with 24 points, six
rebounds and six assists and Cobb added 14 points and seven rebounds.
Brookland-Cayce defeated Georgetown 71-30 in the final.
AIRPORT
The boys basketball team participated in the Modie Risher Classic in Georgetown this past
weekend. It opened with a 64-50 win over Baptist Hill led by Daniel Jeffries with 18 points and
10 rebounds.
Tristan McCray had 17 points and seven rebounds, Seth Martin finished with 14 points and
Travis Grant had 10 points.
The second game saw the Eagles fall 51-24 to Phillip Simmons. They closed out Classic play
Monday against Hanahan and opened the new year Saturday at River Bluff.
