Gridiron to hardwood: Dutch Fork football players have big role in first-round playoff win
Dutch Fork boys basketball has to feel good with where they’re sitting after the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.
The Silver Foxes have spent much of the season getting five football players back into the rotation and that’s starting to pay huge dividends. Three of those football players were in double figures Wednesday night as Dutch Fork used a balanced attack and dominant defensive effort to defeat region rival Lexington 52-31.
Dutch Fork will host West Florence, a 72-62 winner over James Island, in the second round on Saturday. West Florence eliminated Dutch Fork last year.
Jarvis McClurkin and AJ Knight each scored 12 points and Dimarco Johnson added 10 points to lead three of the four players in double figures. Houston Jones chipped in with 12 points, all on three-pointers.
“It was a rough time coming back at first because we were out about six or seven months,” McClurkin, an Erskine football signee, said. “We kept working and kept driving and got our chemistry back.”
Dutch Fork coach Bret Jones said getting the football players back into the fold has been a challenge, but he feels they’re finally getting to the point where everyone is comfortable playing with each other. The Silver Foxes football team won a fourth straight state championship on Dec. 7. Then, McClurkin and Johnson missed time for all-star games.
“We had to reinvent ourselves because now you’re a different type of team,” Jones said. “We’re a zone, press team and working on our man-to-man. Mentally, they were fatigued. It took them a while. The cohesiveness wasn’t there but we’re starting to get it.”
Defensive pressure
This was the third meeting between the two schools this season with Dutch Fork (18-9) winning all three.
The Silver Foxes limited Lexington (14-13) to 11 first half points on 4-of-21 shooting while forcing nine turnovers. Houston Jones connected on a 3-pointer at the first half buzzer to give Dutch Fork a 29-11 lead.
“We had two games (worth) of film,” Bret Jones said. “They run the flex and we worked on really jumping to the ball and making sure we don’t get screened. We muddled that up and got in the paint.”
The Wildcats got as close as 10 points in the third quarter, but Knight hit a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to ignite a 14-3 run that put it out of reach in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Lower State wide open
When the SC Basketball Coaches poll was released this week, seven of the top 10 teams in Class 5A were in the Upper State bracket. Dutch Fork was the highest ranked lower state team at No. 7. Fort Dorchester and Conway were the other teams from the lower state to be ranked.
believes the eight remaining teams in the lower state are very similar and anybody could be in the championship on March 6 at the Colonial Life Arena.
“We had a really good summer and played good basketball,” Jones said. “We’re starting to get back there a little bit. We can beat anybody, but we can also get beat by anybody if we don’t shoot the ball well.”
Tailspin to end of season
Lexington looked to be the fron-trunner in Region 5-5A at the halfway point. The Wildcats were 3-1 in region play at that point but ended the season by losing five of their final six games.
It wasn’t the season first-year coach Elliott Pope was hoping for. The Wildcats will lose six seniors but return Cam Scott, an 8th grader that will be one of the top freshmen in the country next season. Sophomore Amari Davis shows promise at point guard. Juniors Keldric Bouknight, Dionta Sanders and Anthony Barnes will have to play much bigger roles next season.
DF – Jarvis McClurkin 12, AJ Knight 12, Houston Jones 12, Dimarco Johnson 10, Danely 4, Washington 2. L – Adin Daniels 10, Scott 8, Davis 5, Rivers 5, Bouknight 2, Reed 1.
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 10:19 PM.