Defensive effort sends Keenan past Andrew Jackson and back to the Upper State championship

For the sixth time in the past eight years, the Keenan boys basketball will play in the Upper State finals.

The Raiders, the defending Class 2A state champions, got 16 points from Tariq Simmons and a suffocating defensive effort to beat Andrew Jackson 52-45 Wednesday night. Keenan will face Abbeville, an 84-59 winner over Blacksburg, at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Greenville’s Bon Secours Arena.

“We have to improve a little bit better on our free throw shooting but I think defensively, I think we’ve gotten a lot better than the early part of the season,” Keenan coach Zach Norris said. “We’ve consistently been getting better stopping people. That’s what we did tonight and we’re one step away from finishing the season where we like.”

Keenan (18-9) trailed 17-8 at the end of the first quarter, that saw Andrew Jackson (18-5) close on a 12-0 run led by Corey Walters and sophomore standout Dontarius James.

“I was worried about the crowd getting into it,” Norris said. “It sort of rattled us in the first half and we rushed some shots. We calmed down, reversed the ball and was able to do what we wanted to after that though.”

It was a defensive switch that turned the tide. Ja’Quan Osborne harassed James and denied him the ball in prime scoring position, despite being undersized and outweighed.

“We had two kids that we thought would guard him predominately the whole game but (Osborne) was doing such an outstanding job we just stuck with it,” Norris said. “We told him the things we wanted to do to (James) and Osborne got it done.”

The Raiders only trailed 24-23 at the half and reclaimed the lead on a Simmons jumper early in the third quarter. Simmons banked in a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer to give Keenan a 38-34 lead.

James, who finished with 14 points, hit back-to-back 3’s to tie the score at 40-all, and the Volunteers took their final lead on a jumper by Keyshawn Anthony with 4:12 remaining. On the next trip down the floor, Osborne hit a 3 from the corner and the Raiders never trailed again.

“He always comes off the bench and scores for us,” Norris said of Osborne. “He’s like our unsung hero. He doesn’t look like a basketball player because he’s real slim but he gets up off the floor really quick. He’s always around the basket.”

Simmons extended the lead to 47-43 on a layup with 1:59 remaining then the Raiders made 5 of 6 free throws over the final 38 seconds to seal the deal.

“It’s a relief,” Simmons said of making it back to the Upper State finals. “We’ve been working for this since June. It feels good but that’s not our ultimate goal. We want two more wins."