Southside's boys basketball team, having fallen to No. 2, still the team to beat in AAA

For more than a year, including a run to the state championship, Southside's boys basketball team was No. 1 in Class AAA.

That changed Tuesday when the latest South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association rankings were released, and Southside had fallen to No. 2 behind Ridgeland-Hardeeville.

Not that it's any big deal for a confident team that's 13-2, with losses to a pair of out-of-state teams.

"Personally I don't (care), and I'm going to tell my team not to," Southside senior guard Tuzion Brock said. "Rankings don't matter. I feel like as long as we play basketball, we're the best team in the state."

As in play the way the Tigers are capable of playing, as opposed to the way they've played more often than not recently.

At least until Tuesday night, when Southside cruised to a 75-44 victory at Berea. The Bulldogs have been strapped by injuries, but there was no denying the Tigers' dominance.

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"Honestly, I love the way we played tonight," Brock said. "When I go home tonight, I'll probably sleep good. I feel like we played great together. That's definitely some team ball."

"Tonight we finally put a decent game together," said Southside coach Steve Beasley. "We haven't been playing good. We've got a lot of pieces and we're deep, but we haven't been getting any leads to hold onto, so we haven't been able to play as many people as I've wanted to play.

"Then again, they've got to earn it at practice, and some of them aren't practicing as hard. It's hard for me to look down that bench and put them in when they're not giving everything they've got. And the starters were turning the ball over so much, we're not
maintaining leads."

Neither of those was a problem Tuesday. Southside led 31-15 at halftime, and reserves were responsible for 15 of those points.

The second half was more of the same.

"They've got experience, they've got size — obviously, that's a no-brainer — and they've got guard play," said Maness, who knows what it takes after coaching Daniel to the Class AAA state title in 2010.

"They hustle, and they play hard. For a while, we did a really good job on the boards. We blocked out, but they always got the second tip. I'm not saying we didn't have the effort, because we did. It's just that little extra effort, and they were getting to every ball."

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That's the kind of effort Beasley wants to see and the kind of energy that can offset regular-season complacency.

"I tell them every day they've got a lot of work to do," Beasley said. "You can't rest on your laurels from last year. Nobody cares about last year.

"They're looking at the end of the season, and they're not enjoying the ride and trying to get better every game. They're expecting to be (there) at the end of the year, and they better be careful or they'll slip up. You've got to enjoy tonight and come tomorrow to practice and be ready to play again."

"At first, we were looking at playoffs and state," admitted Brock. "But I had a talk with everybody. I asked (them) individually, 'What do you think is wrong?' Everybody gave me input, and (Monday) we had a great day of practice.

"So I think now we're back to ourselves. There's no more playoffs or any of that. If we're playing on Tuesday, we focus on that game."

When focused, the Tigers are tough. Jamal Burke, at 6-10 bigger and better than a year ago, and 6-8 R.J. Campbell provide the size. Brock and Jayden Shell also were starters on last year's state championship team.

Jalon Calhoun, a newcomer to the starting lineup, was the Tigers' quarterback, and Brock and Shell were among his chief targets, so chemistry is a given.

The bench has come on strong; the leading scorers against Berea were Tobias Canada and Jamiere Dogan-Hamilton with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

"They're still hungry for it, and when you've got a team like that, they're tough to beat," Maness said. "They've played some close games, and they've found a way to win. That's the mark of a really good team.

"Having already done it one time, they've got to be the favorite."

SCBCA RANKINGS
BOYS
CLASS AAAAA
 1. Dorman
 2. Blythewood
 3. Conway
 4. West Ashley
 5. Wade Hampton
 6. Sumter
 7. Nation Ford
 8. River Bluff
 9. Westside
10. Gaffney

CLASS AAAA
 1. Wilson
 2. Greenville
 3. Aiken
 4. Berkeley
 5. Westwood
 6. A.C. Flora
 7. Ridge View
 8. Orangeburg-Wilkinson
 9. Lakewood
10. North Augusta

CLASS AAA
 1.Ridgeland-Hardeeville
 2. Southside
 3. Manning
 4. Loris
 5. Chester
 6. Newberry
 7. Bluffton
 8. Clinton
 9. Berea
10. Camden

CLASS AA
 1. Gray Collegiate
 2. Carvers Bay
 3. Keenan
 4. Lee Central
 5. Calhoun County
 6. North Charleston
 7. Silver Bluff
 8. Marion
 9. Blacksburg
10. Landrum

CLASS A
 1. Williston-Elko
 2. Hemingway
 3. McBee
 4. Great Falls
 5. McCormick
 6. Ridge Spring-Monetta
 7. Low Country Leadership
 8. Hunter-Kinard-Tyler
 9. Hannah-Pamplico
10. High Point Academy

GIRLS
CLASS AAAAA
 1. Spring Valley
 2. Goose Creek
 3. Woodmont
 4. Wando
 5. Wade Hampton
 6. Nation Ford
 7. Rock Hill
 8. Ashley Ridge
 9. Greenwood
10. Sumter

CLASS AAAA
 1. North Augusta
 2. Westwood
 3. North Myrtle Beach
 4. Richland Northeast
 5. Myrtle Beach
 6. Richland Northeast
 7. Stall
 8. Hartsville
 9. Wilson
10. (tie) A.C. Flora, Orangeburg-Wilkinson

CLASS AAA
 1. Emerald
 2. Ridgeland-Hardeeville
 3. Newberry
 4. Pendleton
 5. Bishop England
 6. Swansea
 7. Battery Creek
 8. Manning
 9. Dillion
10. Loris

CLASS AA
 1. Marion
 2. Mullins
 3. Barnwell
 4. Brashier Middle College
 5. Blacksburg
 6. Landrum
 7. Andrew Jackson
 8. Christ Church
 9. Burke
10. Batesburg-Leesville

CLASS A
 1. Green Sea Floyds
 2. East Clarendon
 3. Ridge Spring-Monetta
 4. Lamar
 5. Blackville-Hilda
 6. Charleston Math & Science
 7. Denmark-Olar
 8. Whitmire
 9. C.E. Murray
10. Palmetto Scholars Academy