Among the area’s many state championship contenders, North Augusta has distinguished itself by being the only team to make it past Christmas Day with an undefeated record.
Despite only playing two games on their home floor so far this season, the Yellow Jackets will take an 11-0 record to Greenville High School this week to compete in the eight-team Carolina Bracket in the Poinsettia Classic, which begins today. North Augusta will face Greenwood at 2:30 p.m., and if the Yellow Jackets continue their winning streak, they are likely to face top ten teams in the semi-final and championship rounds.
The Yellow Jackets have spent the entire season ranked No. 2 in Class 4A of the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL). And their resume includes road wins over Westside (No. 1 in Georgia’s Class 2A) and Cross Creek (No. 9 in Georgia’s class 3A), and a neutral court victory over Byrnes (No. 4 in South Carolina’s Class 5A). Ninth year Head Coach Tony Harrell said before the team’s practice on the day after Christmas that the challenging non-region schedule has a purpose.
“Every game that we play early in the year leads up to region play,” Harrell explained. “We like to challenge ourselves. Unfortunately this year we’ve had a lot more away games than we are used to. But it’s making our kids mentally tougher, to be able to go somewhere else and have to play really good basketball to win.”
A unique characteristic of Harrell’s bunch is the depth of the roster as nine Yellow Jackets average 10 or more minutes per outing. Elijah Hall (13.8 ppg and 3.5 apg), DaRon Dunbar (12.3 ppg and 5.6 rpg), and Amarri Wilcher (7.6 ppg and 2.4 apg) have played the most, but their 20 minutes per game each only equals two-and-a-half quarters of play. Maliq Richards (8.6 ppg and 7 rpg) is the only other player who has played at least half the available minutes.
Hall and Wilcher, both seniors, form an experienced backcourt as they are three year starters who helped the Yellow Jackets progress to within one point of the semifinal round of the state playoffs last season.
And Dunbar, a 6’3” sophomore who turned 15 on August 28, has established a reputation for being one of the area’s best young players after scoring 21 points in the win over Westside and 17 against Byrnes.
The shooting statistics for Hall and Dunbar are noteworthy. Hall, a 6’0” point guard, is making 51% of his two-point shots and 78.6% of his free throws to go along with a solid 35.7% clip from long distance. And Dunbar has made 56.5% from two-point territory, 70% from the line and 33.3% from deep. During our interview, Harrell agreed with me that Hall, Dunbar and Wilcher set themselves apart from most high school players with their ability to find good shots and make them at a high rate.
“They understand where their spots are, and where they can be successful,” Harrell said. “If they don’t have the play… they’re just good ball players and they make the right decisions. They don’t go in and force shots up. They don’t go in and make bad decisions. They make solid basketball plays. And they work very hard at their game.”
Richards and Khaleed Heywood are the newcomers to the program,l. The senior transfers from Grovetown have brought with them championship pedigree and habits.
“The thing about Maliq and Khaleed,” Harrell continued. “They play so hard. They’re so very competitive. They don’t like to lose, whether it be a drill in practice or a game. No matter what, they give everything they’ve got. They have been a godsend to North Augusta basketball.”
The Yellow Jackets have been as busy as they have been productive. A Friday night win over Burke County right after school let out for Christmas break 10 days ago started a 10-games-in-19 days stretch that will culminate when North Augusta visits South Aiken on January 6 for the region opener between the two rivals.
When Coach Harrell huddled with his team before Monday’s practice to explain the near term schedule, he told the players they would have a day off Friday after the team returns from this week’s three-day trip to Greenville. But practice will resume on Saturday (New Year’s Eve) and Sunday (New Year’s Day) to prepare for next Monday’s showdown with Orangeburg-Wilkinson, the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A, at 4:00 P.M. at Midland Valley. That game will be part of the “Battle at the Border” event.
There will be time for the Yellow Jackets to rest in March after what should be a deep playoff run.
Follow Chad Cook’s coverage of local sports on Facebook, and Instagram at @AugustaPressSports, and on Twitter at @AugPressSports
