The first game of the USC Salkehatchie Holiday Classic became an instant classic before the final buzzer went off to end the game. Rise Academy from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania came out ready to play and stunned Waycross College early in the contest. The game was back and forth throughout the first half with Waycross Academy(GA) leading Rise Academy (PA) 42-41 at the break.
In the second half the game remained close as the game was tied 76-76 with 4:02 left in the game. With 1:50 left, Rise Academy took an 83-82 lead but Waycross fought back to pull ahead by 1 with 20 seconds left in the contest.
It was Rise Academy that went ahead once again 89-88 and it looked as though they would get the win. However, Waycross would get the go ahead basket as time expired when sophomore Brandon Hosely drove the lane for the winning points.
Rise Academy head coach Vin Sparacio was less than impressed with the officials, " I don't like to blame officials but tonight seemed unreal. The last call they missed was horrible as it was an obvious walk. I thought that we had time left on the clock when their shot was made but I guess not. I know you have to take the bad with the good but we don't play to lose."
A jubilant Waycross College head coach Cory Baldwin said of the victory, " Tonight's game was totally not our style of play. We lead the nation in the NJCAA with the less amount of points allowed a game, before tonight we had only given up 63 in a game. Brandon Hosely came up huge for us in the second half. I think he had 4-points in the first half and 25 in the second. It was obvious that the guys knew he was hot and keep feeding him the ball."
Leading Rise Academy (PA) tonight was #25 Kyland Clarke 11-points, #55 Pablo Bertone 16-points and #5 Johnathan McNair 5-points.
For Waycross College it was #21 Brandon Hosely leading the way with 29-points followed by #1 Marcus Benitez 23-points and #12 Reco Lewis with 11-points.
USC Salkehatchie will face Waycross College tomorrow at 3:00 pm in game 3 of the Holiday Classic. As of 10:00 pm, it was unknown if Rise Academy (PA) would have a team to play at 1:00 pm. As soon as the information becomes available, I will post to the blog.
