C3D2: Charleston cruises to championship round

The Charleston Blue Jays used a hot start offensively on the road to an 85-56 win over the Valle Catholic Warriors in the Class 3 District 2 semifinals at Saxony Lutheran High School on Wednesday.

The Blue Jays would open the game with their relentless press that would allow them to jump out to a 13-2 lead just over 2 minutes into the game.

“It was all momentum,” Blue Jays coach Jamarcus Williams said. “When we see a weakness we like to keep attacking that weakness.”

Overall, Williams felt the Blue Jays could have defended better, but he was pleased with the opening burst that built the momentum offensively.

“We played good enough defense at the beginning of the game which is what we want to do,” Williams said. “We just want to give ourselves some cushion and create buckets for ourselves.”

Despite the strong start from the Blue Jays, the Warriors would battle back to make it 23-18 after the first quarter.

After Valle made it a game after one, Charleston again got going early in the second quarter, expanding its lead to 35-20 just over 2 minutes into the second quarter.

“We like to get easy buckets,” Williams said. “We like to attack the bucket and we also like to give ourselves opportunities defensively to score by creating transition buckets.”

The Blue Jays led 43-30 as the two teams entered the locker room at halftime.

Charleston’s offense continued to produce as they led 64-38 after the third quarter before going on to win 85-56.

Leading the way for Charleston was Rico Coleman with 18 points. PJ Farmer had 16 points, Ko’Terrion Owens had 14 points, Fletravion Stanback had 13 points, Almareion Williams had 10 points, Deshaun Henderson had 6 points and Rommie Turner had 4 points.

Charleston (21-6) will take on the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders in the Class 3 District 2 Championship at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 24 at Saxony Lutheran High School.