BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School had no trouble advancing to the semifinals of the District 6-1A boys basketball tournament, defeating Bell 74-22 in a Feb. 6 quarterfinal game.
The fourth seed Tigers (12-10) will now take on top seed Newberry (14-7) in a semifinal game on Thursday, Feb. 8, at Fort White High School. Tip-off time wasn’t known as of this posting.
Second seed Hawthorne (14-4) and third seed Fort White (16-5) will play in the other semifinal.
The championship game will be played Saturday, Feb. 10, at Fort White.
Thomas Williams scored 19 points in the first half against Bell (3-22) as the Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 51-12. A pair of three-pointers by Williams and Gavin Jenkins put the Tigers up 9-0. Jayden Jenkins rebounded a missed free throw and scored to later make it a 13-0 game.
Jayden Jenkins scored eight points in the first quarter as Union built a 23-9 lead.
The final basket of the opening quarter, which was scored by Gavin Jenkins, was the start of a 19-0 run. Williams had the first three baskets of the second quarter, with one field goal coming from beyond the three-point arc. After Blake McCoy made a free throw, Williams had another basket to make the score 35-9. Jayden Jenkins added a basket and then came up with a steal, which led to a basket by Williams. Williams was fouled on the play and made the awarded free throw.
Bell finally got on the scoreboard in the quarter with a free throw, but that was followed by a three-pointer by McCoy off a Jayden Jenkins assist. McCoy would score again off an Erick Lasseter steal.
Kam Paytee and Jeppson Dang hit consecutive three-pointers to end the half with Union leading by 39.
The second half went quick with a running clock. Williams had two third-quarter baskets to finish with a game-high 23 points. Jayden Jenkins added a basket and finished with 12 points.
Dang scored six points in the fourth quarter and finished with nine points.
Gavin Jenkins also had nine points, while the Tigers also got six from McCoy, four from Johnte Nichols, three each from Paytee and Aaron Griffis, two each from Isaiah Folaji and R.J. Odom and one from Deonte Jones.
