Bishop England tops Timberland

A familiar feeling flowed through Bishop England assistant coach Daniel Eykyn as he watched his players celebrate on the court Friday night. It’d been a while but it was one he couldn’t forget. It was one of satisfaction, accomplishment. It was one of a champion. Bishop England knocked off Timberland, 58-43, Friday to win the Region 7-AAA championship, its first region title since 2007. The last time the Bishops won their region, Eykyn was a senior forward leading the team in points and rebounds. He’s spent the past three years as the head coach of the Bishops’ junior varsity, helping groom most of the players on this season’s varsity into one of the top-ranked teams in Class AAA. “It’s very satisfying to be on the other side of it now and see these kids go from being freshmen all the way up to their senior year, seeing them finally get to that point and now they’re bursting through the roof,” said Eykyn, who went on to play four years at The Citadel. “These kids have done something special. They’ll look back 20 years from now and remember, ‘Hey, we won the region championship at Bishop England.’ Not many people can say that.” Bishop England (16-5, 6-0) fired away from the opening tip as three different players combined to hit four 3-pointers to build its lead as large as 16-4 through the first seven minutes. Bishops senior guard Brendan McHale then poured in 11 of his game-high 29 points in the second quarter to send the Bishops into halftime with an eight-point advantage. “The difference in the first half, they hit shots and we just couldn’t,” Timberland coach Jerome Stewart said. “We defended, we rebounded well but we knew we had to hit shots from the field to beat them and we didn’t. That continued from the first half into the second half.” Bishop England stretched open a 12-point lead four minutes into the third quarter. But as the Bishops’ senior double-double machine, Christian Drummond, was forced to sit in foul trouble, the Wolves pounded inside, cutting the deficit down to four points with an 8-2 run in a minute and a half that D.J. Johnson capped with a powerful dunk. Johnson finished with a team-high 15 points for Timberland. Junior forward Leo Albano countered for Bishop England, turning in nine of his 17 points in the third quarter, answering with several crucial baskets that kept the Bishops on top. Timberland (10-8, 3-2) scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to pull within three, 44-41, with four minutes left to play. The Wolves would only score two points the rest of the way, though, as the Bishops sealed the win from the free-throw line, knocking down 12 of 13 attempts in the fourth quarter, including six straight from McHale in the final 55 seconds. “We wanted to come out and set the tone, and I think we did that, but I told them to expect Timberland to make a run because they’re too good of a team to roll over and lay down,” said Bishop England coach Bryan Grevey, who was an assistant on the 2007 team. “We got into a little bit of foul trouble and had to make some adjustments. But we had some kids really step up for us and make some big shots. That’s what’s great about this team, they’re so close. They all pull for each other. No one cares who gets the glory, and that’s the sign of a really good team.” Bishop England has two regular-season games remaining, at Manning on Tuesday and at home against Hanahan next Friday. This year’s squad has already accomplished what few Bishops teams have been able to in the past. But as Eykyn stood in the back hallway watching his players carry the platinum region trophy into the locker room, he thought up one more challenge before the postseason begins. “We had a great team (in 2007) but, you know, one thing we couldn’t do is just sweep the region,” he said. “I’d like to see them keep this thing rolling. Just go undefeated in the region. That would be an amazing feat to set us up for the playoffs.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bishop England High School Athletics

BISHOP ENGLAND TOPS TIMBERLAND

FRANKIE MANSFIELD

Moultrie News | 1/30/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Frankie Mansfield