Bishop England overtakes Manning for first place in region

The Bishops aren’t ready to concede their region crown just yet. Bishop England outlasted Manning, 52-44, on Tuesday to pull even with Hanahan for first place in Region 7-AAA with two games left to play. The tie will be decided Friday as Bishop England travels to Hanahan for the second game of the season series between the two. "These guys are still the defending region champions,” Bishop England coach Bryan Grevey said. “They take a lot of pride in that.” Manning appeared at No. 3 in the latest AAA state rankings, released hours before tipoff Tuesday afternoon. The Monarchs dealt the Bishops a 14-point loss two weeks ago in Manning. Grevey’s message to his team before the rematch was simple: “If we can play BE basketball, we’ll control what happens. It’s really about how we play tonight, more than how they defend us.” Bishop England never trailed from start to finish. The Bishops outscored Manning 10-2 through the opening three minutes and still led 26-18 at the half. Manning cranked up its defensive pressure out of the break, holding Bishop England scoreless for nearly six minutes in the third quarter as it cut the deficit down to two, 28-26. Aidan McCool ended the drought with a three from the wing that sent the Bishops on a 7-2 run, including four points from Peyton Doyle in the final 40 seconds, to close the quarter ahead 35-28. “We never expected Manning to quit,” Grevey said. “We kind of had our way with them in the first half. We expected them to really pick up the tempo. I thought they did that through the first three or four minutes but once we settled down and started running our system, we handled it better.” Leo Albano stretched the Bishops’ lead to nine with putback layup in the early seconds of the fourth quarter. It’d be the final basket of the game for Bishop England. Monarchs junior guard Israel Brown evened the game at 40 with a layup plus the foul with just over four minutes remaining. Bishop England, already in the bonus, went on to win it from the free-throw line. Albano, Doyle, McCool and John Michel combined to hit 15-of-20 from the line in the final five minutes. “We haven’t shot as well as we’d like from the free-throw line this season,” Grevey said. “But they went up there when we needed it in a pressure situation and knocked them down.” Albano finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and four steals, playing in a clear plastic mask to protect his broken nose. McCool added 16 and Doyle turned in 13. Camden Cain led Manning with 12, while Leondria Nelson chipped in 10. Bishop England slid past Hanahan two weeks ago with a 3-pointer from McCool in the final seconds. The win was the seventh straight for the Bishops in what some consider a rivalry series with the Hawks. “We expect a great game on Friday,” Grevey said. “Hanahan at their place, we know they’re going to come out ready, especially the way our last game ended.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bishop England High School Athletics

BISHOP ENGLAND OVERTAKES MANNING FOR FIRST PLACE IN REGION

FRANKIE MANSFIELD

Moultrie News | 1/31/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Frankie Mansfield