Newberry wins region championship behind Darius Elkins big fourth quarter

ABBEVILLE, S.C. — The Newberry varsity boys’ basketball team took home the 2-AA region championship on Thursday evening after defeating Abbeville. The Bulldogs(15-9, 8-0 region 2-AA) secured their 10th straight win with a 64-49 road victory over the Panthers(11-5, 6-2 region 2-AA).

It was a battle of number one versus number two in the 2-AA region showdown to see who would be crowned region champs. The Panthers’ faithful packed out their home gym for senior night and a chance to see their home team avenge their Jan.23rd overtime road loss to the Bulldogs.

It was all Abbeville to start the opening minutes of the game. The home team got off to a 7-0 run, but the hot shooting from Bulldogs’ sophomore guard Kenton Caldwell kept his team in the game. Caldwell scored all of Newberry’s 12 total points in the first quarter, but Abbeville led 17-12 after the first quarter.

The Panthers continued their dominant play on both ends of the floor in the second quarter. They held the Bulldogs to just seven points in the quarter and led 29-19 at halftime. The trio of of Demarcus Leach, JD Baylor and Kajwon Elmore was too much to handle for the visiting in the first half.

Abbeville kept their high energy going in the third quarter and got off to a 17 to 13 run in the opening minutes of the second half. Things begin to slip away for the Bulldogs now trailing 46-33, and the home crowd let the visitors know it.

Bulldogs’ head coach Adonis Hill called a timeout to help his troops regain their composure and they took off from there. The Bulldogs closed the third quarter on a 8-0 run and only trailed 46-41 heading into the fourth quarter.

Then, Newberry’s starting point guard Darius Elkins began to take over the game in the fourth quarter like he has done so many other times before this season. The senior scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and scored 16 total points in the second half. Elkins finished the game with 17 points and scored eight of the team’s last 10 points

“Once I saw we got down, I just knew we needed a little push. I know a layup or two and a couple of stops would give us that push. And once our team get into, I know that can’t anyone beat us ,” said Elkins.

The Bulldogs picked up their defensive pressure in the fourth quarter and held the home team to just three points. They also went on a 23-3 run that started at the 6:06 mark in the third quarter until the end of the game. Newberry didn’t claim their first lead of the game until the fourth quarter.

“It’s called heart. We faced a lot of adversity this year during non-region and went through some challenges. The same thing happened tonight. I knew we were going to be okay when we in pre-game. I was telling the guys, ‘we need to do this and we need to do that in order to be successful’, but they just looked at me and said ‘coach we got this,” Hill said.

In addition to Elkins’ big night, Caldwell also had a strong performance. He finished with a team-high of 19 points. AJ Jeter finished with 12 points, including six in the final quarter and 10 of his 12 points scored in the second half. Jamel Howse Jr. added 10 points and 12 rebounds along with his strong presence on the defensive end.

“I just kept telling them to ‘relax.’ I looked down at their bench at halftime and didn’t see one person warming up. They played Tuesday and I knew the fourth quarter was ours. We are built for this and that’s what happened. Their legs went, the jumpers stop falling and we ended the game on a 23-3 run,” explained Hill.

Newberry went from being 5-9 on Dec.29 to 15-9 and region champs on Feb.8. When asked after the game, how does it feel to be a region champ? Elkins simply replied with a grin on his face, “it feels great!”

His head coach echoed those same words.

“I am so proud of these guys, I am just so proud of them. And our senior, Darius, took control in the fourth quarter and that’s what a senior does. He’s been doing this for four years and he said, ‘hey, if I am going out then its gone be through me and if we lose it then its gone be through me,’” replied Hill.