Three Rock Hill high schools featured on Day 2 of annual Battle at the Rock Showcase

Here’s a recap of how Rock Hill-area schools performed on the second day of the three-day Battle at the Rock basketball showcase at Northwestern High School.

Marion 51, Rock Hill 42

Rock Hill closed out the game on the wrong side of a 21-10 run in its 51-42 loss to Marion on Friday night.

Rock Hill’s main struggle was shooting. The Bearcats made just 14 of their 44 field goal attempts and 12 of their 23 free throw attempts, and those struggles wiped out Rock Hill’s advantage in the turnover game. The Bearcats committed 10 fewer turnovers than the Swamp Foxes. Of course, Marion shooting 57% from the field didn’t help Rock Hill, either.

Head coach Douglas Pearson said the lack of experience on his team and a shallow bench played a huge role in the loss, especially down the stretch.

“I think some of it was inexperience but also some of it was fatigue,” Pearson said. “We weren’t able to go very deep into our bench in the second half, and I think that hurt us at the end with finishing the game.”

Senior Zacarious McKinney led the Bearcats with 14 points and nine rebounds, while freshman Nigel Lightner pitched in 12 points and three steals in the loss.

“I think they played good in moments,” Pearson said. “Nigel has been our clutch guy all year. He’s been our leading scorer, and I think Nigel stepped up. We had some big moments from McKinney on the inside, in passing lanes and finishing at the rim.”

Rock Hill falls to 0-6 and will next play at Marvin Ridge on Dec. 7.

Nation Ford 60, South Pointe 56 (OT)

Nation Ford senior Jackson Burnham scored 28 points, including 10 in overtime, to lead the Falcons to a 60-56 overtime win over South Pointe.

In the first half, Nation Ford was trying to get a lot of looks from outside, shooting just 1-for-11 from three as the Falcons went into halftime down 27-21 shooting 31% from the field.

Head coach Charles Brown said he was just trying to get a feel for his team still early in the season and let the game and his players dictate the game plan.

“Second half and overtime, we just went by feel with it,” Brown said. “I played a lot of guys tonight just to get a feel for who’s doing well at the time, and everybody came in and gave good minutes when they came into the game. But once I put Mark (Caslaru) in there when Jackson got in that foul trouble, I thought that clicked for us.”

The second half and overtime went much differently, as Nation Ford shot 52% from the field.

The Falcons also made 13 of their 18 free throws in that stretch after not attempting one in the first half.

“We couldn’t make shots early in the game, but we were playing solid defense from the jump,” Brown said. “So I knew that as the game went on, we would work ourselves back into the game. We came up with the right energy. Guys were focused on this game, but it’s just that the shots weren’t dropping early. So we had to manufacture our way back into the game.”

Nation Ford is highlighted by its size, most notably with 6-foot-10 big man Caden Giles. The senior pulled down 17 rebounds to go along with his eight points and seven blocks. His presence on the inside kept South Pointe from getting good looks near the basket.

It was the kind of wrinkle that forced the Stallions into making just 26% of their two-point attempts.

“A lot of things happened in that game,” South Pointe coach Melvin Watson said. “We missed some boxouts, and we missed a chance to grab a rebound to seal it. It’s just one of those games when you’re young, and there’s a learning curve. I think we’re starting to grow up a little bit as we’re playing. Our record doesn’t indicate how good we are.”

Sophomore forward Tre Raymon led South Pointe in scoring with 16 points, while fellow sophomore Jayden Barber-Hayden had 15 points and four rebounds.

With a game in which the margin of error was slim, Watson said that facing those losses will eventually allow his team to turn them into wins.

“That’s a part of basketball,” Watson said. “That’s part of your growth. When you’re trying to be good, you have to learn how to win. (Nation Ford) played together for years, so they never panic. They made the plays that they need to make. We’re young. We’re trying to grow up, and we’re still trying to figure out what our identity is. There’s some things we still need to clean up.”

The win moves Nation Ford to 2-0, and the Falcons will be at home to play Northwestern on Dec. 4. South Pointe falls to 1-3 and will play South Florence on Saturday at the Battle of the Rock.

Northwestern 64, South Florence 50

Northwestern held South Florence to just 30% shooting from the field in the Trojans’ 64-50 win Friday night.

Northwestern had four players score in double-digits, with junior Jaylan Moore leading the team with 15 points. Senior Theron Young finished the game with 11 points, three rebounds and three steals.

The 50 points is the lowest point total Northwestern has allowed all season.

“I saw growth in my guys,” head coach Michael McCray said. “We’ve been struggling defensively, from the preseason tournaments to our first regular season game. And they picked up the intensity tonight on the defensive end. I thought we had the proper rotations and did what we needed to do defensively.”

That defensive pressure is what allowed Northwestern to keep its lead from end to end, preventing South Florence from being able to knock down any shots to build momentum.

The Bruins were held to just 3-for-27 shooting from beyond the arc.

“After watching film, we know that they have some guys that can flat out shoot the basketball,” McCray said. “So we wanted to do a little three-quarter court press just to slow them down and give them a different look, a different perspective of what we were doing on defense to confuse them a little bit so we can get into our gameplan.”

Northwestern climbs to 4-2 with the win.