By Thomas Grant, Jr.
An early Saturday start and having an entire roster playing for the first time at Lexington High School raised the concern level of Irmo boys’ basketball coach Alex Quillen.
Those worst fears came to fruition as the Yellow Jackets fell behind 8-0 to the Wildcats.
After getting a stern “preaching” by Quillen during an immediate timeout, Irmo responded with a 9-0 run of its own.
The Yellow Jackets went on to defeat Lexington 60-44 on a day where the host school honored its state championship teams from 1996, 2000 and 2024. Ironically, the Wildcats’ first state title victory took place over Irmo.
Christian Brown had 12 points and Antwoine Pierce added 11 to lead the Yellow Jackets.
“It was nice to see the guys battle back the way they did and they kind of settled in a little bit,” Quillen said. “I figured out this is the first time anybody on this roster had ever played here. So I think they had to get adjusted to that.”
Irmo’s turnaround was sparked by its defensive pressure. After Lexington’s Jacob Bouchard and Reece Hartman opened the game with 3-pointers, the Yellow Jackets proceeded to stifle the Wildcats’ offense in holding them to five field goals the rest of the first half.
“We kind of hang our shoulders on our defense this year,” Quillen said. “That’s kind of been our mantra the whole year is that we’re going to be the best defensive team. I think I was checking as of now; we’ve got the least point against in the region total of all teams. That’s something we look at and we kind of hang our hats on. That’s how we’re going to win games.”
Creating points off turnovers, Irmo turned a 13-13 tie at the end of the first quarter into a 12-point halftime advantage. The trend continued into the second half as Quillen challenged his post players to take up their intensity against some of Lexington’s taller players like Sam Mills.
Irmo increased its lead as many as 20 points in the second half.
Having won the Region 4-5A opener, Irmo turned its attention to Tuesday’s home matchup against River Bluff.
LADY YELLOW JACKETS
The Irmo girls’ basketball team looked to carry over its 77-33 win over Newberry into the Region 4-5A opener at Wildcat Gymnasium.
The Lady Yellow Jackets sought to snap defeat the Lady Wildcats for the first time since November 2020. Point guard Abby Livingston was also coming off a career-high 37-point performance.
Livingston’s game-high 15 points was not enough to hold off Lexington which handed Irmo a 60-37 defeat. Jaleya Lytes had 14 points, Sydni Anderson added 13 points and freshman Gabby Dunot finished with 11 points, including 3, 3-pointers in the third quarter.
Lailah Singletary had 11 points for the second straight game for the Lady Yellow Jackets.
S.C. BASKETBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION TOP 10 POLLS
BOYS
Class 5A
(Division I)
1. Ridge View
2. Byrnes
3. Dorman
4. Summerville
5. Mauldin
6. Blythewood
7. Carolina Forest
8. Boiling Springs
9. Cane Bay
10. Dutch Fork
(Division II)
1. Indian Land
2. Westwood
3. Fort Mill
4. Goose Creek
5. Greenville
6. Berkeley
7. Conway
8. Riverside
9. Greenwood
10. Lugoff Elgin
GIRLS
(Division I)
1. Summerville
2. Ashley Ridge
3. Dutch Fork
4. Blythewood
5. Wando
6. Clover
7. Carolina Forest
8. Lexington
9. Rock Hill
10. Spring Valley
(Division II)
1. Gaffney
2. North Myrtle Beach
3. Riverside
4. White Knoll
5. Carolina Forest
6. Berkeley
7. Irmo
8. TL Hanna
9. St. James
10. Fort Mill
Feature photo by Thomas Grant, Jr. – Irmo guard Antwoine Pierce with the layup against Lexington
