St. Joseph Fighting Irish head coach James Hunter knew that Thursday night’s 68-51 win over Claiborne County in the quarterfinals of the South State Tournament was bittersweet. His starters played so well in the first half that from the opening play of the second half, officials invoked mercy rule and allowed the clock to run uninterrupted.
“We expanded our lead from the end of the first half and led by as many as 40,” Hunter said. “Trey Benson had two big dunks in the first half that seemed to ignite us, and we took control from that point.”
The victory earned the Irish (15-4) a trip to Friday’s semifinal game against Sylva-Bay Academy. Discovery Christian and Christian Collegiate are scheduled to meet in Friday’s other semifinal game. The championship game is scheduled for 5:15 on Saturday.
Once the second half began, Hunter pulled his starters and inserted his reserves. At the 4:40 mark of the fourth quarter, St. Joe had doubled the Claiborne County output at 68-34.
Claiborne County closed the game on a 17-0 run to make a significant cut into the deficit as the St. Joe reserves found it difficult to score on offense. Nevertheless, the St. Joe starters and partisan crowd cheered and gasped with hope as every shot left the hand of the second unit’s hands. St. Joe reserve point guard Christian Foster showed off his ball handling skills late in the contest much to the delight of the Irish fans. “It was good for our players who don’t normally get a lot of playing time to play tonight.” Hunter said. “But, it means a little more for the team when we can do this earlier in the season. We must focus on what’s ahead of us to be successful in the post season. We have a very tough Sylva Bay squad in our next game.”
Dillon Johnson led all scorers with 16.Johnson’s Irish teammates C.J. Moore and Jerrain King added 13 each. Cason Hollenshead paced Claiborne County with 15 points.
