For the second straight year, archrivals Lexington and River Bluff will face each other prior to Region 4-5A play at the Chick-Fil-A Classic.

Both teams lost their consolation games Dec. 29 in The Swamp and will meet at 10:50 a.m. The American and National Bracket championships will take place at 7 p.m. and 8:40 p.m.

American Bracket

(Consolation Games)

A.C. Flora 51, River Bluff 42

Benjamin Lee and Ed Scott opposed each other for a Class 4A boys’ basketball team.

Scott’s Lower Richland team took a 59-49 victory over the Wildcats-led team of co-captains Lee and Devin Liferidge. Years later, Scott served as an assistant coach to Lee with the Gators.

The two men faced each other again, this time as head coaches. Led by Christopher Parker’s 12 points and 15 rebounds, first-year Falcons’ coach Scott defeated Lee’s Gators.

The first quarter ended with a 6-5 scoring line kin to the two schools’ successful baseball programs. A.C. Flora increased its lead to 10 points before Luke Chapman scored the Gators’ final five points to bring them within 21-16 at halftime.

Chapman finished with 11 points before fouling out.

River Bluff (5-8), which dropped its fifth straight game, made more field goals in the second half (11-9). However, A.C. Flora outshot the Gators 35-2 at the free-throw line and outrebounded them 38-25 to stretch its lead as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Greensboro Day 57, Lexington 49

It was a quick turnaround in action for the Wildcats as they looked to snap a three-game losing streak in a “Battle of the Cats” matchup with the Bengals.

Just 24 hours after a 40-point loss to Columbus High School (Fla.), Lexington had a much improved start. After being held to 11 first-half points, including just one in the first quarter, the Wildcats exceeded that total early in taking a 14-6 lead.

Francis Marion commit Jose Figueroa and Cam Scott each had eight points in the first half. They finished with 13 and 19 points, respectively.  

Trailing 19-13, Greensboro Day scored nine unanswered points to reclaim the lead. The final 11 seconds saw the two teams exchange three-pointers with Lexington’s Caleb Campbell tying the game and the Bengals’ Jordan Moody giving his team a 25-22 lead at the buzzer.

Down 27-22, the Wildcats tied the game again on five straight points by Scott. He then left the game briefly to tape his ankle, only to see the Bengals run off eight unanswered points to go up 35-27.

Jayden Young led Greensboro Day with 15 points, followed by Moody with 12 and Joseph Bachman with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Lexington (6-6) closed within two points in the fourth quarter, only for Greensboro Day to extend its lead as many as 10 points.

American Bracket  

Semifinals

John Marshall (Va.) 50, Columbus (Fla.) 47

The Justices rallied from a 10-point deficit, then held off a late rally by the Explorers to advance to the bracket final.

Damon Thompson scored 15 points and freshman Latrell Almond added 12 for John Marshall, which used an 18-0 run to take a 42-34 lead with 6:32 left.

A night after beating Lexington by 40 points, Columbus got within a point on two free throws by Cayden Boozer, who finished with 11 points along with Malik Abdullah.

After two free throws by Thompson with 52 seconds left, the Explorers had an opportunity to tie but missed at the buzzer.

The loss spoiled a second straight double-double by the nation’s number-one sophomore prospect Cameron Boozer. He finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds.

Wheeler (Ga.) 60, W.J. Keenan 48

Isaiah Collier scored 18 points and had five steals and Jelani Hamilton finished with 12 points to lead Wheeler into the American Bracket championship game.

Chrisean Oree and Jaylen Golston each scored 15 points for the Raiders.

National Bracket

Semifinals

Huntington Prep 79, Calvary Christian Academy 67

Jordan McCullum scored 21 pts and grabbed nine rebounds and Maki Johnson added 17 for the Irish.

Also scoring in double figures for Huntington Prep were Del Jones with 13 points and four assists and Larry Johnson with 10 points and four assists.

Jaylen Curry had a game-high 32 points for the Eagles. Slam dunk champion Carl Cherenfant had 10 points and Ethan Lathan had seven points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

IMG Academy 67, The Rock School 58

Amier Ali scored 16 points, Blue Cain had 14 points and four steals, Bryson Tucker had 12 points, including a monstrous second-half dunk and Jamie Kaiser Jr. finished with 11 in the win.

Evan Sterck had a game-high 21 points and four steals for The Rock School.

Consolation Games

Southern California Academy 48, Oak Hill Academy 42

For only the second time in 14 tournament games, Oak Hill Academy was on the losing side.

Garwey Dual scored 14 points and Jahseem Felton recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Rams.

Southern California Academy took control early in the second quarter and built the lead to as many as 12 points. It outscored the Warriors 28-18 in the paint.

Joshua Holloway and Kaden Magwood each scored 13 points for Oak Hill.

The Warriors came into the tournament as the only undefeated team in tournament history that had played here more than once in the 20 years of the tournament. Oak Hill was 12-0 in four previous trips to the tournament.

Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) 67, Providence Day School 47

Despite only having six players available for the second straight day, the Bruins advanced to the fifth-place game.

Justin Johnson and Tyshawn Bridges each scored 19 points as four Hillcrest Prep players finished in double figures. The team was already missing six players due to airline cancellations and Balyor commit Jason Asemota was out due to injury.

Providence Day used an 11-0 spurt to take a brief 41-40 lead late in the third quarter, but Hillcrest Prep responded with a 27-6 spurt to end the game.

Aiden Sherrell scored 13 points and Kamari Jones added 12 for the Bruins.

Riley Allenspach scored 13 points with 10 rebounds and Nick Hailey added 13 points with Josiah Robinson finishing with 11 points for Providence Day School.

Boys Basketball

Irmo 68, Harding University 46

Brandon Crawford scored 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and Jonathan White had 11 points and five assists as the Yellow Jackets advanced to the finals of the Mountaineer Classic.

Irmo will face Bulter (N.C.) at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 30.

White Knoll 59, Mid-Carolina 50

Seth Sims scored 20 points, Brice Newton had 14 and James Smith added 11 for the Timberwolves.

Connor Cromer scored 18 points and Ty Floyd added 11 in the loss.