Darlington boys are Panther Classic Champions
By Will Isgett, Contributing Writer
For the second consecutive year, the Darlington Falcon varsity boys basketball team traveled to the coast and won the Carolina Forest High School Panther Classic basketball tournament.
The Falcons (10-1) beat region foe and previously undefeated Lakewood High School in the championship game 76-68 and Frankie Johnson was named the tournament MVP.
This years trek to the title was much more difficult, as the tournament expanded to 16 teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, the District of Columbia, Tennessee and South Carolina.
The Darlington Falcon boys basketball team won the Panther Classic at Carolina Forest High School for the second consecutive year. Darlington downed teams from Georgia, Tennessee, DC and South Carolina to take home the trophy.
Photo by Jeff Kelly
And to win the championship the Falcons had to win four games in three days including two games on the final day.
Along the way, Coach Ken Howle’s team downed Fellowship Christian 81-42, Booker T. Washington High School 71-45, and IDEA Charter 67-57. The Falcons faced all out of state teams until the championship game.
In the Fellowship Christian game, Johnson scored 19 points, followed by Marquis Green with 15 and Tyriq Smith with 14.
The big highlight of the game was Johnson scoring his 1,500th career point as a Falcon varsity basketball player. Johnson, a Citadel basketball signee, also played quarterback for the Falcon football team this past season as he passed for 1000 yards and rushed for 1000 yards.
Against a much taller Booker T. Washington squad from Memphis, Tennessee, Darlington used its full court pressure defense in the fourth quarter to put the Warriors away.
The win propelled the Falcons into the semi-finals to face IDEA Charter School from Washington DC, a school with only a little over 300 students.
IDEA Charter is the defending DC Charter School team champions and offered the Falcons its toughest test of the tournament.
After trailing the Timberwolves at halftime by five, Darlington outscored IDEA 44-29 in the second half to move into the championship game.
Green lead Darlington with 23 points and Johnson added 18.
In the championship game against the Gators, the Falcons jumped out to a 22-7 lead after back-to-back three pointers by Savon Williams and led 33-20 at the half.
The pesky Lakewood squad hung around with the Falcons getting as close as six points at the 7:11 mark of the second half, but Darlington hit 10 free throws over the final 3:55 of the game to seal the win.
Johnson led Darlington with 24 points, while Donovan Johnson scored 18, Green with 14 and Williams with 11.