Notebook: Midlands basketball teams start well

With the holiday basketball tournaments behind us, region play for Midlands teams will be in full swing this week.

But before that happens, it is time to look back at what has stood out from the first month of basketball across the area.

Perfect Skyhawks

Hammond won a SCISA state championship last season, and has been the best team in the area through the first five weeks of the season.

The Skyhawks (12-0) have won 29 straight games, and along with the football team didn’t lose a game in last calendar year. Hammond won its first Chick-fil-A championship and captured the C. Dan Joyner Poinsettia Classic last week in Greenville.

Hammond is ranked No. 1 in this week’s Midlands Top 10 boys poll and moved up to No. 12 in MaxPreps Top 25 national rankings Monday.

Most of Hammond’s wins have come against public schools, including Spring Valley, Darlington and Airport. The Skyhawks also have a win against Greenforest Academy, which is ranked in MaxPreps Top 25.

Hammond has gotten big contributions from its Division I signees Seventh Woods, the MVP of the Chick-fil-A Classic and Chevez Goodwin, MVP of Joyner Poinsetta Classic. But the Skyhawks also have gotten big minutes from its role players such as Michael Turner and Jonathan Yuchmow, who earned all-tournament honors at the Poinsetta.

Hammond still has non-region games against Keenan and Porter-Gaud, and gets into the region slate this week.

Keenan getting things together

After a 3-6 start and playing a tough non-region slate, defending state champion Keenan got the momentum it was looking for in last week’s Queen City Classic in Charlotte.

The Raiders went 3-0 in the tournament and defeated Cape Henry Collegiate 54-50 to win the title. It was only the second time Cape Henry had lost in its last 40 games.

Tariq Simmons is Keenan’s top player, but it got big contributions from others in the tournament, including Majerle Poole, Dillon Jones and Rod Marshall.

As good as advertised

Spring Valley and Dreher girls started the year as 1-2 in the Midlands Top 10 poll, and have done nothing to disappoint. The two teams are a combined 21-2, with Dreher’s lone loss coming against Spring Valley on Dec. 9.

The Vikings’ only loss came in the preseason tournament against Sumter, but they defeated the Gamecocks 49-35 to win the championship District X tournament last week.

Ridge View off to good start

The Ridge View boys are off to an 8-1 start, which includes a win over Irmo, and defeated Trinity Christian (NC) and Miami Day (Fla.) in the Bojangles’ Bash.

The Blazers finished third in last week’s Queen City Classic, and have been able to win close games in the early going. Five of Ridge View’s eight victories have come by three points or less.

Living up to the hype

A.C. Flora and Blythewood boys stumbled a little during holiday tournaments, but have the players and capability to make deep postseason runs.

Flora made it to the championship of the Shootout by the Sea tournament before losing to Millbrook. The Falcons’ only other loss came at the hands of Hammond in the Bojangles’ Bash.

Blythewood’s only loss outside of the Chick-fil-A Classic was a 42-41 defeat to Irmo last month. The Bengals were the No. 1 ranked team in Class 4A and Midlands poll to begin the year, and are one of the favorites to win Region 4-4A, which figures to be one of the top Class 4A regions in the state with the likes of Ridge View, Spring Valley, Westwood and Dutch Fork.

Westwood girls’ hot start

The Westwood girls are off to a 10-1 start, which are already the most wins in the brief history of the four-year school.

The Redhawks finished second in the River Division of the Carolina Invitational last week in Charleston.

Beat goes on for Irmo

Despite losing leading scorer Devontae Shuler, Irmo has picked up where it has left off previous years. The Yellow Jackets are 8-4, and won the final two games of the Poinsetta Classic.

Dre'von Sweat and R.J. Gunn have picked up the scoring load left by Shuler. The Yellow Jackets begin region play Friday against White Knoll, and haven’t dropped a conference contest in three seasons.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Notebook: Midlands basketball teams start well."