For much of his career Bryan County senior Elijah Mincey has been expected to carry the scoring load. If last Saturday’s opener at South Effingham is any indication, opponents will not be able to focus their defensive efforts on the talented point guard.
Mincey was his usual self in that he put on some dazzling moves that resulted in a pair of one-ands while scoring a game high 17 points. However, he got plenty of scoring help as four other Redskins were in double figures in a season-opening 80-52 win over the Mustangs (1-3).
After a slow start which found itself trailing 20-16 after the first quarter, Bryan County found its groove and used a strong closing two minutes of the first half to turn a close game into a runaway in Coach Jason Napier’s debut.
Napier, a former head coach at South Effingham, replaced Brent Anderson who left after seven years for an administrative position in Bulloch County. While he said his team had plenty of things “to clean up offensively and defensively,” the Redskins looked in mid-season form at times.
Ger’bravion Collins followed Mincey with 15 points while Darius Edwards and Chris Winfree added 13 each and Mike Smith checked in with 10 before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Jadon Odum had six points but he missed out on double figures when he went 0-for-6 at the free throw line.
“They’re a good group who have played a lot of basketball,” Napier said. “It kind of showed tonight. They played well.”
Bryan County is coming off a 17-11 season and has advanced to the state playoffs the last three years. That experience showed as it put the pedal to the metal once it got the lead for good with 3:58 left in the second quarter.
Trailing 26-24 Mincey tied it and Smith put the Redskins in front for good when he hit a pair of free throws. That was the start of an 18-3 run from which the Mustangs never recovered. Five different players scored during this stretch.
“That was the way we wanted to end the quarter,” Napier said of his team scoring the final 10 points of the second quarter for a 42-29 halftime lead. “Defensively we did really well. We started playing smarter defensively letting our athleticism and discipline take over. It gave them some problems and frustrated them.
“They couldn’t get anything in the paint clean and us being able to play like we did made them play defense a lot which burned their legs,” Napier said. “You could tell their shots were really short in the second half.”
Napier felt first game nerves played a role in his team’s slow start but, as the strong second quarter finish showed, once the Redskins got a feel for the pace of the game, they were able to take advantage of their talent.
“I think the nerves were there,” Napier said. “We kind of got gassed early because they were excited and had an energy drop for the first three or four minutes. I knew it was going to be this way. Everything changes when you put fans in the building and get the cheerleaders and referees in it.
“They were tired of practicing with each other. You get bored real easy. We’ve been practicing three and a half weeks against each other. You want to play somebody else.”
Although South Effingham scored the first five points of the second half the Redskins were never in any danger of relinquishing their lead which hit 20 points, 57-37, with 45 seconds left in the third quarter and ballooned to 30 at 76-46 with three minutes to play.
Bryan County is off until next Tuesday when it begins Region 3-DII play at McIntosh County Academy and it plays Portal at home on Dec. 6.
Four region teams are currently ranked by the AJC with Savannah at No. 1 followed by MCA at No. 5, Portal at No. 9 and Jenkins County at No. 10.