Darlington boys, girls take care of basketball business in Lamar
By Drake Horton
Contributing Writer
It was a successful night for both the Falcons and Lady Falcons Dec. 3 as they traveled to the other side of the county to take on Lamar, with each team coming out victorious over the Silver Foxes.
Darlington (boys) 76, Lamar (boys) 31
From start to finish this game was never close. Darlington, fresh off winning the Turkey Shootout, dominated a Lamar Silver Foxes basketball team that only had six players dressed out to win 76-31.
“Nights like this, they are frustrating,” Darlington boys’ head coach Anthony Heilbronn said. “You don’t really get a lot out of it other than everyone gets to get in.”
Tre’Quan Scott was electric from downtown for the Falcons scoring 21 points on seven three-pointers.
“The first three games we were able to get nine in each game, the first game we got 11,” Heilbronn said. “You know me, I’m trying to go deep with my bench, trying to get nine, 10 guys every game. I think we got 10 in the first half tonight. I tried to run the first half as normal as possible; the second half, it is what it is.”
That “it is what it is” by Heilbronn was simply him rotating every available player possible, working on different things and most importantly to him, he said, not to embarrass anyone intentionally.
Darlington (girls) 59, Lamar (girls) 16
The Darlington Lady Falcons held Lamar to under 20 points total on its way to a 59-16 win.
Defense was the key to Darlington’s win as the Lady Falcons turned their strong defensive performance into offense on the other end of the court.
“First off, hats off to Lamar, they are a very sound and well-coached team,” Darlington girls’ head coach Brad Knox said. “I told them before the game that we have to come out and compete on both ends of the floor.”
For Lamar and head coach Randolph Scott, games like this are learning lessons, especially for a team as young as he has this year.
“We have a freshman point guard, we have junior in the backcourt with her, neither one of them have played significant time over the course of these last couple of years,” Scott said.
That youth struggled with Darlington’s defensive pressure. Careless passes and not understanding the situation due to youth played right into the hands of the Lady Falcons’ defense.
“Darlington did a good job in press sets and traps, but a lot of careless passes on our part and that is coming from being young,” Scott said. “The thing about it is we see where we can grow up and that is what it is going to be, a growing lesson, but we still feel like we have very exceptional team. We take games like this to learn from them.”
RECAP
The Falcons played two other games this past week, defeating Crestwood at home 52-48 before losing to West Florence on Friday in Charlotte 52-48. The boys are now 5-1 on the year.
The Lady Falcons played the same two games as well, splitting both just like the boys except in reverse roles with Darlington losing 46-37 to Crestwood, but winning 43-41 against West Florence in overtime.
They are 3-1 on the year.
