Conway suffocates River Bluff with defense, advances to Lower State final

CONWAY, SOUTH CAROLINA – DJ Turk Night kept pumping out, “you gonna learn tonight!” It really served to pump up the already enthusiastic crowd. There was

CONWAY, SOUTH CAROLINA – DJ Turk Night kept pumping out, “you gonna learn tonight!”

It really served to pump up the already enthusiastic crowd. There was nothing to learn. Everybody already knew: Conway plays great defense and owns the boards.

The Tigers played 32 minutes like that Wednesday night and suffocated upset-minded River Bluff 44-20 in the third round of the 5-A state playoffs.

“Defense and rebounding, man,” said Conway coach Michael Hopkins.

Yes, indeed.

“Our main focus is defense and rebounding,” said junior guard Devin Grainger. “And we came out and executed as a team tonight. We have chemistry. We’ve been playing together for a long time.”

Conway's Santana Mayes (3) plays some of the tight defense that keyed the Tigers' victory over River Bluff / Photo by Mike Duprez

Conway (27-1) will play Goose Creek for the Lower State championship on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Florence Center. The winner will advance to the state championship game.

And the Tigers are planning on it being them.

“I’m ready,” said senior forward Aiden Brantley. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.”

Grainger led the Tigers with 8 points while Khalil Campbell and Brantley each had 7. But this was about the points they and their teammates prevented.

Conway's Cam Alston drives to the basket as River Bluff's Brooks Bearden (20) defends / Photo by Mike Duprez

Given the disparity of the records - River Bluff was 14-13 coming in - Conway was a heavy favorite. But the brackets have been dotted with several teams who have overachieved in the playoffs.

The Tigers left nothing to chance. They played in-your-face man-to-man defense. They played zone. Their defense was like a vise. Conway held River Bluff to six points in the first half.

“We hadn't seen anything like that,” said River Bluff coach Benjamin Lee. “They’re not just athletic. They're disciplined in what they do. They're competitive in what they do. They make it hard to run anything you want to run.”

River Bluff guard Omari Caldwell (2) reacts after losing the ball / Mike Duprez

The Tigers are also patient on offense, which leads to low-scoring games. River Bluff played in a zone in an effort to keep Conway out of the paint.

Conway did get off to a slow start. It was a 5-2 game midway through the first quarter. But the all the passing began to work. Campbell and Brantley got layups.

Frustration set in quickly for River Bluff. The Gators’ Pac Pitts collided with Campbell, with both falling to the floor. Pitts grabbed Campbell’s head and tried to twist it. The officials called a technical foul and Pitts was ejected from the game.

By the time Cam Alston hit a 3-pointer to end the first quarter, Conway led 15-4.

It only got better in the second quarter as Conway held River Bluff to two points and extended out to a 29-6 halftime lead.

Defense and more defense.

“That's what we’ve been doing all year,” Grainger said. “Why stop now?”

The Tigers had a bit of a slump to start the third quarter. They scored one point in the first four minutes. At the same time, River Bluff forward Luke Chapman got a hot hand and scored seven straight points. But the Gators never got closer than 16. The Tigers got yet another jumper at the horn, this time by Jamarious Woodbury, and led 35-13. That was part of a 13-2 stretch for the Tigers.

Toward the end, Hopkins pulled his starters. That gave freshman guard Trevon Johnson a chance to show off the future. He dazzled with his dribbling and applied the exclamation point by driving the middle and connecting on an off-balance layup while being closely guarded. The starters on the bench stood up and cheered.

All wasn't lost for the Gators, who caught fire in the playoffs after a sub-.500 regular season.

“I’m really proud of this group,” Lee said. “If you had told me at the beginning of the season that we would reach the third round, I’d probably take it.”

And now for Conway, it’s on to Florence.