LUDOWICI — The Long County Blue Tide boys’ basketball team’s season has come to an end. Despite winning the region tournament and a No. 1 seed in the state playoffs, the Tide came up just short when they welcomed in the Beach Bulldogs on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
The Bulldogs came from the tough Region 3-AAA, also colloquially known as the “Savannah Region.” They showed immediately that they are not your typical No. 4 seed as they gave the Tide a run for their money.
It was tough inside play and some decent outside shooting that gave the Bulldogs a 14-9 lead heading into the second quarter. The game was back and forth for most of the first before Beach pulled away on a 4-0 run in the final minutes of the quarter.
Beach continued to pile on as they increased their lead to 18-9 with a 4-0 run to open the second quarter. This is when the Tide finally found their footing, going on a 10-0 run to regain the 19-18 lead with 5:35 left in the half.
Sophomore Second Team All-Region guard Chuck Anderson was a big part of the Tide’s run in the quarter. He came off the bench and hit two of his first three shots from three-point range.
From there, the game was back and forth again as the Tide and Bulldogs traded the lead up until the final second of the half.
Tied at 24, the Tide looked to get a final shot off. Anderson was able to do that from just about half court but was fouled with less than half a second on the clock. He knocked down two of his three free throws and gave the Tide a 26-24 lead at the half.
Shamarrie Hugie was the clear leader for the Bulldogs for most of the game, but when he committed his fourth foul just 23 seconds into the second half, he was sat down for the remainder of the third and the Tide took advantage of his absence.
Senior Cam Johnson decided he was going to take over in the third quarter after scoring just one bucket in the first half. He proceeded to score nine of the Tide’s first 12 points in the third, only giving junior CJ Glenn a three ball.
Jamel Brimlett came in after a three-game hiatus and made an impact, connecting on a tough layup as the Tide increased their lead to 40-34.
Anderson came up big in the final seconds again as he got an open look from beyond the line and hit it as the buzzer sounded. The Tide led 43-34 going into the fourth.
The Bulldogs were not going to go down that easily as they got Hugie back in the game. He came up big immediately as he came up with an And-1 layup to cut the Tide’s lead back to six points.
It was an opening 12-4 run for the Bulldogs that cut the Tide’s lead down to 47-46. From there, it was once again the back-and-forth show that opened the game.
The Tide took a 55-52 lead, but back-to-back buckets from the Bulldogs gave them a 56-55 lead. Another turnover by the Tide pushed the Bulldogs’ lead to 58-55.
This was all Beach needed to hold on as they scored 12 of the last 15 points in the game to pull out the 64-58 win over the Tide.
Despite Johnson’s 21 point, 11 rebound double-double and Anderson’s 13 points, the Tide could not overcome the fast-paced offense of the Bulldogs. They end their season 15-11 as the Bulldogs move to 14-8 and advance to face off against White County in the second round.