Ready for the bright lights: Scott's Branch prepares to face Calhoun County for 1A title

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All postseason, Scott's Branch boys basketball head coach Kevin Miller has talked about his team's love for dark roads and dim lights.

After losing back-to-back games to Carvers Bay to lose their No. 1 ranking in the SCBCA 1A polls and finish second in Region IV, the Eagles were out of the spotlight as a No. 2 seed in the playoffs. They had to hit the road and grind through tough road wins before beating the team that eliminated Carvers Bay from the playoffs, Hannah-Pamplico, in the 1A lower state championship.

Now the lights are bright again, as Scott's Branch will make the trip down to Aiken on Saturday to face Calhoun for the 1A state championship. This is the Eagles' third-straight trip to state, and Miller knows his team is ready to be under the brightest lights once again.

"We traveled those dark roads with those dim lights in that little bus we've got. We walked into people's gyms, and as we played, the lights started to get brighter. The lights are bright, and we're ready now," Miller said. "We had to disappear for a minute and get ourselves together. Those young men are ready. In basketball, the ball can bounce either way, and I'm aware of that. I'm not setting myself for not understanding that. But from where I'm standing, it's going to be a heck of a ballgame."

Scott's Branch carries a 19-3 record into their matchup with Calhoun County, a team that sits at 26-1 on the season. Their lone loss came to Orangeburg-Wilkinson, which is playing for the 3A championship after the Eagles and Saints conclude the 1A final on Friday.

The Eagles face a tough task against Calhoun County, but Miller said his team is locked in.

"The most difficult part about this whole thing is getting here. All the games back to back and pushing. Now that they're here, they have a totally different persona," Miller said. "I don't have to push them in practice; I don't have to say anything. It's like an orchestra; they're just moving through it.

"We had a two-and-a-half-hour practice. I'm not talking two and a half hours of just moving; I'm talking about two and a half hours of getting it. That's something they wanted. Some of the guys stayed after another hour to shoot free throws. It's determination, being focused and locked in. They've been locked in since Monday."

Scott's Branch has played for the state championship in each of the last two seasons but has come away without hardware each time. Miller said his team doesn't just want to win a state championship, they need it.

"You ever see a hungry woman? They can't function unless they eat," joked Miller. "I'm going into classrooms, making sure everything is straight and the teachers are kind of giving them mental breaks because they can't see nothing else. They want this game."

One of the players leading the charge is Randy Gibson, the Eagles' 3-time All-State point guard. While there are some experienced seniors on the team, Gibson has taken over as the leader, even echoing some of Miller's catchphrases.

"Coaches always say that seniors are supposed to be your leaders, but I don't think that's true. I believe a leader is inner born, and he has emerged as that leader," Miller said of Gibson. "He's very vocal; he's very demanding of what he wants on the court. He will dig into some of those seniors. He made the comment, 'Don't make me want it more than you.' When you've got a kid reverbing something that coaches say, he's not waiting for his senior year to do that, he's doing that now."

That leadership will be important as the Eagles face off against a Calhoun County team that has one of the winningest coaches in South Carolina history on the end of the bench. Zam Fredrick had a 7-year stretch that saw Calhoun County win five state titles. At one point, the Saints won 81 straight games. Miller said there's one good way to combat a coach of that caliber.

"You handle it by almost not handling it. You take it out of the coach's hands and let your players take it out of his hands," Miller said. "As coaches, we are all paralyzed at a certain point. We can yell, we can talk, we can threaten, but at the end of that time out, when the kids go back on that floor, that kid is responsible. You play your game, and that's how you take it out of other people's hands.

"All of that experience I admire, but at the end of the day, he's going to coach just like me, and it's going to fall on the players."

Calhoun County runs a defense that is predicated on trapping opposing ball-handlers, while running a base 2-1-2 zone. To succeed against it, Scott's Branch is going to have to make smart, crisp passes and avoid dribbling into what Miller calls the cheese spots.

"They like to play a high match 2-1-2 defense. To them, that's resting. They always want to keep ball pressure," Miller said. "They're sagging in the passing lanes, looking for the cutters, and they want you to go to the cheese spots, the four corners. They want to trap you there. So you keep off the rail, keep the ball in the middle, keep moving and slicing. That's what you do against that kind of defense."

The Saints' best player is senior guard Russell Brunson Jr. The future Wofford football player leads the team in points, rebounds, assists and steals, averaging north of 20 points per game. A guard-heavy team plays right into the hands of Scott's Branch, another guard-centric team that has struggled in the past against teams with dominant big men.

"We match up better like that because I don't have a kid who's 6'8"," Miller said. "We're really a guard-oriented team, even though we have some stretch guys. Zakee (Rendell) is a guard. I've probably got one true big man. That makes the matchup level. It's going to come down to intensity, mental fortitude, stuff like that."

With two teams that love to bring pressure, Miller said depth will be the difference-maker in the game. Scott's Branch has used more of its bench as the season has continued, which should pay dividends on Friday.

"I think that's going to be key. Our bench has gotten a lot better, a lot more seasoned, and they're understanding their purpose on the court. When I have a guy going out there for two minutes, he's going to give me the best two minutes he can give me. I have several of those. I have a lot of faith in our bench and our depth."

The Eagles' core is built around four players, two seniors in Zakee Rendell and Montrez Sinkler, along with two juniors in Gibson and Tyler Kind. All four have experience and played key roles in each of the previous state championship runs.

Sinkler, unfortunately, is most well known for missing a pair of free throws late in the 2019 state championship, which the Eagles lost to Great Falls by two points. Since then, he has been a crucial piece for Scott's Branch. Last week, he delivered the game-winning shot as the Eagles beat Baptist Hill in the 1A quarterfinals. Miller said that showed the growth of his senior forward.

"I know, personally, he took a beating for that. I know it. People in the community beat that boy up for that. For him to be able to talk about, actually joke about it, his maturity has stepped up big time. He has been the glue all season long," Miller said. "What that (game-winner) did for Trezzy, that took the bad taste and the weight off his shoulders. He put us in the position to be back where we're at now. Which one is more important? This. It's another chance. Some coaches coach all their life and never get this chance, some players play four years and never get this chance, let alone to make up for it. The boy is going to get it done for us."

Miller has also seen growth from Rendell. He loves that his senior has shown the ability to diagnose his own mistakes and improve.

"What gets me about Zakee is he knows exactly what he's doing wrong. He tells me, 'I know I did that wrong; give me a moment and I'll get it back.' That is beyond basketball," Miller said. "I can't go nowhere else with that. He's there."

After losing in two straight title games, the Eagles want to finally take home a ring. The program has seen its ups and downs during the last few years. Stephen Nelson led Scott's Branch to each of the last two title games as head coach but fell ill during the offseason and had to hand the reins back to Miller. In a world that's still struggling with COVID-19 and so much else, Miller wants to bring some positivity back to Summerton.

"It would mean a closed chapter," Miller said of winning a title. "I believe we all need that good feeling. When everything else is in turmoil, sports bring back the feel good. For it to be at this point, for them to win it would be pure joy."