They weathered struggles building a program. Now River Bluff rises to state title game
Ben Lee had plenty of doubt and questions early on in his tenure with the River Bluff basketball program.
Lee reflected on those hard times this week as the Gators get ready to play in their first state championship game Saturday night — River Bluff plays four-time defending 5A champion Dorman at USC Aiken Convocation Center.
“You get emotional thinking about some of your more stressful times,” Lee said. “But you also get emotional and are appreciative of these young men that kept you motivated and hopeful when you weren’t able to win games.”
Lee was hired as the Gators’ first head coach when the school opened in 2013. The former Lexington High standout was used to winning as a player and later an assistant coach with the Wildcats under Hall of Fame coach Bailey Harris.
Lee was on Lexington’s 1999 team that played for a Class 4A championship against a powerful Lower Richland team. He also was an assistant on the Wildcats’ two state runner-up teams in 2010 and 2012.
But wins were hard to come by early on at River Bluff, as the Gators had losing seasons in each of the first four years of the program. Lee said he had good athletes on those teams but for many of them, basketball wasn’t their main sport.
Lee also didn’t know about the dedication of some of his players to the program during that time. He remembers a bunch showing up tired and dragging to a game in 2017 — they had stayed up late and watched Clemson football defeat Alabama for the national championship.
The Gators lost, 74-45, to Spring Valley that night.
“I thought I never am going to have kids who love River Bluff basketball more than Clemson football,” Lee said. “I got frustrated and I had some doubts. But I had a moment of reflection where I just had to get over myself and power through things like I always have been telling my players.
“If I’m going to fail, I am going to do it with every ounce that I got. If I turn out to be a failure, least I know I put everything that I had into it. Fortunately, I had more and more good kids coming in and things are going well right now.”
River Bluff has 70 wins over the past four years, including a school-record 21 in 2019. The Gators had just two playoff wins in school history but have already surpassed that total with three this year, including Tuesday’s 45-43 win over defending lower state champion Dutch Fork.
One of the keys to the Gators’ success this season is their experience. River Bluff has eight seniors on the roster, including all-state performer Myles Jenkins, Malachi Reeves, Landon Stills, Grayson Renner and Chase Powell.
Jenkins has been a three-year varsity player, while Reeves has been a four-year varsity player and his brother JT was on the Gators’ team that won 21 games.
“We all have grown up playing together so chemistry has always been there,” Jenkins said Wednesday. “We just try to be an example for the younger group each day in practice. COVID also made us come together more because you never knew if it was going to be the last time on the court.”
Lee said the seniors benefited from older guys in the previous few years going hard on them in practice. He also said their impact will help shape the program for years to come.
“They are great and they all bring a bunch of different characteristics to it,” Lee said of his seniors. “I have gotten very close to this group. I very much will enjoy them and miss them when it all is said and done on Saturday.”
SC Basketball Championship Schedule, scores
Wednesday, March 3
Class 2A Girls
Saluda 61, Silver Bluff 41
Class A Boys
Southside Christian 66, Scott’s Branch 45
Thursday, March 4
Class 4A Girls
Westside 44, North Myrtle Beach 30
Class 3A Boys
Marlboro County vs. Seneca
Friday, March 5
Class 5A Girls
Sumter vs. Clover, ppd.
Class 3A Girls
Keenan vs. Bishop England, 4 p.m.
Class 2A Boys
Christ Church vs. Wade Hampton, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 6
Class 4A Boys
Hilton Head Island vs. South Pointe, noon
Class A Girls
Southside Christian Military Magnet, 4 p.m.
Class 5A Boys
Dorman vs. River Bluff, 7:30 p.m.
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 11:29 AM.
