This year’s S.C. High School League finals was the “Weekend of Defending Champions”.

Out of the 20 boys and girls’ teams who competed at Colonial Life Arena, 6 managed to leave with their respective state titles.

The 1st to do so was the Gray Collegiate boys, which defeated Whale Branch 53-38 to earn their 3rd consecutive Class 2A tide.

“We still have a target on our back and everybody is giving us their best shot,” Collegiate head coach Dion Bethea said. “But I tell you what the turning point for us was the loss to Columbia (a 88-81 loss on Jan. 10...and the guys all bought it.”

Facing a Warriors’ team for the 2nd straight post-season, the War Eagles found themselves in a 9-1 hole in the 1st quarter. All-State guard Tauris Watson led the comeback charge with 5 straight points during a 16-2 run.

Gray Collegiate held Whale Branch scoreless over the final 4:50 of the 1st quarter to take a 17-11 lead.

After Watson left the game with foul trouble, the Warriors rallied again behind their senior duo of guard Shawn Chisolm and All-State 6-foot-9 senior center Nick Pringle. The Wofford signee scored 11 points, including 4 straight to tie the game at 22-22.

As the 1st half ended, a steal by Kristopher Wallace turned into a layup by R.J. Howell to put Gray Collegiate ahead at the break. It was the only points of the game for the son of former Gamecock Rolando Howell.

“We stayed level,” Watson said. “They were going to make their run. They did a great job coming out making their run. We just stayed level-handed. Everybody stayed calm. This was our game. This was something we prepared for.”

The War Eagles did not trail again. After making just 2-9 from 3-point range in the 1st half, Gray Collegiate opened the 2nd half with 1 from behind the arc by Chase McDuffie to take a 5-point lead.

“We went through a lot of ups and downs this season and it prepared us for this moment,” said McDuffie, who had a gamehigh 22 points.

Gray Collegiate extended its lead to 39-31 at the end of the 3rd quarter. After Pringle fouled out with 5:44 left in the game, S.C. Basketball Coaches Association Class 2 Player of the Year Latavian Lawrence connected on 3 of his 9 points to push the lead out to 12.

The Warriors got no closer as they were held to their lowest point total of the season. With the championship at hand, Watson added an exclamation point with the final minute with a breakaway slam dunk.

“Defense is everything us,” Watson said. “They said at the beginning of the year that we were just athletes. But we showed that we’re more than that.”

Dutch Fork falls to 4-time champion Dorman, Ryan

Nearly 2 1/2 hours later, the Dutch Fork boys took to the floor looking for its 3rd school sports tide in 11 months.

The football team claimed 1 of those tides at the hands of Dorman to win a 4th straight Class 5A tide.

This time, it was the nationally-ranked Cavaliers who sought to ‘4-peat’ and join Calhoun County as the only SCHSL teams to do so in the past 96 years. Leading the charge was head coach Thomas Ryan, who along with Dutch Fork head coach Brett Jones played at Lexington High under Bailey Harris.

With their former mentor in attendance, Ryan and Jones’ teams tipped off in the final game of Day 1 of the ‘Weekend of Champions”.

Unlike the state football championship, this basketball contest was dominated from the start by Dorman. Flexing their muscle, the Cavaliers scored the game’s 1st 11-0 points.

Dutch Fork did not score its 1st field goal until the 3:07 mark of the 1st quarter on a short jumper by A.J. Knight.

Dorman led 37-15 at the half. The Class 5A Co-Players of the Year P.J. Hall and Myles Tate combined to outscore the entire Silver Foxes’ roster with 21 points.

Tate led a quartet of double-figure scorers for Dorman with 17 points, followed by Hall with 16 points and 12 rebounds, Jalen Breazele with 11 and Justin Amadi with 10.

The Cavaliers extended their lead as many as 26 points. Howevei Dutch Fork continued to battle, outscoring Dorman 31-28 in the 2nd half.

Leading 37-15 at halftime, the Silver Foxes extended their lead as many as 26 points in the 2nd half. Dutch Fork (21-10) continued to battle, outscoring the Cavaliers 31-28 in the 2nd half.

Jarvis Green had 12 points to lead the Silver Foxes, who were making their 2nd state final appearance.

Over the final minutes, Ryan hugged his senior players who have led Dorman to a 28-game winning streak.

“This team has had a target on its back all year,” Ryan said. “So, we knew the main goal and for them to really accomplish what wanted to, we had to get here. And they did that. We worked hard. We defended extremely hard all year.”

Both Ryan and Jones received commemorative game balls from Harris. Afterwards, Jones reflected on his team’s “great 4-month journey” to reach Columbia.

“The football players come out and then they’re gone and then we’re trying to figure it out,” Jones said. “(We’re putting) the puzzle together and getting that puzzle together which was so satisfying and we really played good basketball the last 5-6 games. Even against (Dorman), we didn’t play bad. They’re just huge.”

Both head coaches will now prepare for post-season games. Jones will coach in the North-South All-Star Classic at Lexington High on March 21, while Ryan will head to New York with Dorman for the Geico Nationals in New York City starting April 2.