The Savannah Christian boys basketball team didn’t have one player have as big a game as Stone Wells did for Savannah Country Day on Tuesday night.
But four Raiders each scored at least nine points, and that added up to a 57-39 wire-to-wire victory on the home court of their crosstown and Region 3-A Division I rivals.
“Our philosophy defensively is we’re going to play sound defense,” Savannah Christian coach Zach Darling said after the game. “We’re not going to let five guys go off. If one guy has a night, that’s fine because we’re going to shut everyone else down.”
Wells, a 6-foot-1 junior guard/forward, tallied a game-high 27 points, including every score for the Hornets in a nine-point second quarter and 13 of their 17 in the first half. The rest of the team didn’t have an individual finish with more than four points.
“He’s just a great player,” said Sean Sweeney, Savannah Country Day’s first-year coach. “He can drive it; he can pass it; he can shoot it. He used to go to Savannah Christian when he was younger, so it was a big game for him. He was ready. He answered the bell. We’ve got some other guys who didn’t tonight, but they’re great players and they will.”
Savannah Christian (6-6, 1-2 region) held a seven-point lead at the end of the first and second quarters, then padded that advantage to 25 points with a 22-4 third quarter that made the fourth period inconsequential.
Aden Johnson, a sophomore, posted a team-high 12 points in the first half as the Raiders built their edge, and finished with 16 as they maintained it. Big man Ty Byrd, a 6-5 junior, doubled his four-point output in the first half with eight in the second and blocked a few shots as well. James Stevens, a senior, made the biggest second-half contribution for SCPS with 11 points and totaled 13.
“We’ve got a bunch of different weapons, in my opinion,” Darling said. “The thing I like about our team is we’re unselfish. Tonight, in the first half, it was Aden (Johnson), in the second half, it was (point guard) Dalton Bunch and James Stevens. The next night, it might be Ty Byrd and Ethan Schmucker. It’s being well-rounded, and guys that love playing for their team and for each other, is what I think leads to some success for us.”
Darling liked how the squad’s “defensive intensity” created scoring opportunities from turnovers and missed shots, and also energized his charges on the offensive end with fast breaks and even in their preferred half-court game.
Any energy boost would be welcome as Tuesday was Savannah Christian’s first day of classes following the winter break – making for a long day and night. Savannah Country Day faced similar scheduling after returning to classes on Monday. Though playing at home against a longtime rival, the Hornets weren’t able to keep up.
Sweeney pointed to 50-50 balls as one example.
“They just got all the loose balls,” he said of the Raiders. “They brought great intensity to the game, and I don’t know if we matched that.”
Wells was the great exception. He played fast and physical, aggressively penetrating the lane and forcing the SCPS defense to react. Wells sank a circus shot on a drive for his first basket of the game, and he took a Euro Step in getting past a defender and making a layup for his second bucket of the first quarter.
He made one free throw and four baskets, including a putback on an offensive rebound, to produce all of the Hornets’ points in the second quarter.
“He’s got a great mid-range game,” Darling said. “He’s got a good pull-up jumper. He’s added some athleticism. He’s able to elevate and finish over the top. He’s got a good floater as well. We’ve got big 6-5 Ty Byrd coming in there and he’s able to hit that floater over him. He’s a tough player. He does a good job scoring the ball in the paint.”
Darling noted that Wells played with some of the current Raiders when they all were in middle school at SCPS, as well as in AAU basketball.
“So there’s a lot of familiarity between the two teams. Stone’s a heck of a player,” Darling said.
Savannah Country Day played without its big man, 6-6 Andrew Nicholson, but Sweeney said both teams were short-handed.
“He’s a vacuum underneath with rebounds,” Sweeney said of Nicholson, a standout football player who has signed with Bucknell University. “We missed him, but you’ve got to play with who you’ve got.”
They have Wells, who was the only Hornets player suited up on Tuesday to have played significant minutes last season, the coach said.
“That was a good wake-up call, I hope,” said Sweeney, whose squad is 11-3, 2-1 in the region.
SAVANNAH CHRISTIAN 57, SAVANNAH COUNTRY DAY 39
SAVANNAH CHRISTIAN (57)
Dillon 4, Aden Johnson 16, Schmucker 9, Ty Byrd 12, James Stevens 13, Bunch 3.
SAVANNAH COUNTRY DAY (39)
Watson 2, Stone Wells 27, Sparks 2, Bean 2, Kleinpeter 2, Edward Wallace 4,
SCPS|15|9|22|11|--|57
SCD|8|9|4|18|--|39
Records—Savannah Christian 6-6, 1-2 Region 3-A DI; Savannah Country Day 11-3, 2-1 region.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
SAVANNAH COUNTRY DAY 54, SAVANNAH CHRISTIAN 29
The host Hornets scored the first 10 points of the game and never trailed in dispatching the Raiders in a Region 3-A Division I contest.
Savannah Christian didn’t score until the 4:35 mark of the first quarter, when Mollie Poppell sank a jumper for the first two of her team-high 10 points. Savannah Country Day scored the rest of the points in the opening quarter for a 16-2 advantage.
The SCD lead grew to 31 points in each of the last two quarters. The Hornets, who pushed the ball in effort to beat the defense down the court, were led by Charlie Hawkins’ game-high 15 points. Sarah Sussman scored nine and Madison Bueno eight.
SCPS (29)
Branch 3, Kelly 6, Gard 2, A. Phillips 8, Mollie Poppell 10.
SCD (54)
Bueno 8, Hildebrandt 4, Gilpin 4, Charlie Hawkins 15, Myers 2, Sussman 9, Semones 2, A. McCray 8, Castillo 2.
SCPS|2|6|9|12|--|29
SCD|16|11|17|10|--|54
Records—Savannah Christian 4-8, 0-4 Region 3-A DI; Savannah Country Day 12-2, 2-1 region.
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy Nathan Dominitz for the Prep Sports Report
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