The Richard Winn Academy varsity boys’ basketball team closed out their 2012-2013 season with a 75-47 loss in round one of the SCISA Class 2A state playoffs. The Eagles traveled the long two+ hour drive to Charleston to match up at Porter-Gaud School against Palmetto Christian Academy from just over the Cooper River Bridge in Mt. Pleasant Saturday. The P.C. Eagles notched the #2 tournament seed behind Spartanburg Christian and were newcomers in the Class 2A bracket after having captured the 2012 state title in the Class A.
Richard Winn head coach Joe Pitt scouted his team’s opponent and prepared his team to give the Lowcountry Eagles a run for their money. RWA matched up well against PC in the first quarter and trailed by only one point, 19-18, as the second quarter got under way. Then the bottom fell out for the RWA team as PC pushed forward to outscore the Winnsboro team 22-6. RWA missed eight free throws and found themselves in some foul trouble during the second quarter.
Down by 17 at the half, Richard Winn came storming out of the locker room after halftime to score on their first three possessions and narrowed the gap back to 10 points. The two teams exchanged baskets and played evenly for a short period of time, but RWA was never able to get any closer than 10 points. Then PC went on a 7-0 run with just two minutes remaining in the third quarter to go back up by 17.
Even though the RWA Eagles ran out of steam in the fourth period and were unable to make a close game of it, Pitt was still pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“I thought we played very, very well,” Pitt said. “Jason (Branham) had his best floor game, and Reid (Johnson) and Logan (Gibbons) had big scoring games.”
Pitt also said that Palmetto Christian did a good job of covering RWA starters Cameron Cooper and Patrick Pope, his team’s two leading 3-point shooters, thus limiting RWA’s points scored from the outside perimeter.
Seniors Johnson and Logan Gibbons led the RWA Eagle offense while posting 18 and 15 points, respectively. Cooper and Pope were held to five points each. Branham and Joseph Goldin tallied two apiece.
The season is over for now, but Pitt will go back to the drawing board soon to begin preparing for the next basketball season while also encouraging his returning players to get into the locker room for workouts. The guys will get back on the court in the month of June to scrimmage and work on improving their game. While the three seniors, Johnson, L. Gibbons and Corey Davis, will certainly be missed, Pitt will be focusing his attention on rebuilding a solid, competitive program.
