Lower State basketball championships return to Citadel

Here's some good news if you are a high school basketball fan -- the High School League's Lower State basketball championships will return to The Citadel's McAlister Field House.

The eight games will be played Feb. 26-27, with the winners advancing to the state championships in Columbia the following weekend.

The Lower State championships were contested at The Citadel in 2008 and produced some memorable moments for Lowcountry teams.

In Class AAAA, Summerville let an 11-point lead slip away in the third quarter but held on for a 51-47 victory over Sumter en route to its first state title in school history. After the game, the Green Wave posed for a team picture as the players wore fire helmets with the initials LM on them. The LM stood for former Green Wave coach Louis Mulkey, one of nine Charleston firefighters killed in the Sofa Super Store fire in 2007.

In Class AA, the Burke boys won a thriller. Burke sophomore Sidney Sanders came up big-time against Mullins. With an estimated 4,500 looking on at McAlister Field House, Sanders, who is now a senior, changed the momentum of the game that ended Mullins' perfect season. The 5-7 guard scored eight straight points to turn a four-point deficit into a four-point lead in 78 seconds as the Bulldogs prevailed 64-62.

High School League commissioner Jerome Singleton hopes this year's event can register the same on the excitement scale.

"It was extremely successful in 2008; big crowds and big games" he said. "What I'm most excited about is that we have eight games at one site."

On Saturday, Feb. 27, you can watch six games for $10.

The High School League and The Citadel couldn't come up with an agreement last year and the games were played at different venues. This year, both sides worked hard to make the event happen.

"The reception we received from The Citadel is that they hope it can help the area economy," Singleton said. "In these tough economic times, cities are looking for ways to generate extra money. You will have people who come here and eat in restaurants, sleep in hotels and pump the gas. It will bring money in."

The Class AAAA games will be played on Friday, Feb. 26 and the other six titles game will be contested the next day.

All-star coaches

Timberland's Chris Pond has been selected as an assistant coach for the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association's North South All-Star Games.

He will be an assistant to Pete Guyton of Dreher on the South Class AA/AAA team.

Andy Hallett of A.C. Flora is the head coach of the North AA/AAA team. Scott Kerwin of Liberty is his assistant.

Brooks Shumate of Sumter was named the head coach of the South Class A/AAAA team. His assistant is Tommy Mishoe of Sumter.

Matt Huntsberger of Ninety Six will be the head coach of the North Class A/AAAA team. Dell Corley of Nation Ford will be his assistant.

The South Carolina Select Team coaches are Henry Mixon of Lower Richland, Jack Jolly of Carolina Forest and Mark Smith of Abbeville.

The games will be played June 16-19 at Coastal Carolina.

Reach Philip M. Bowman at pbowman@postandcourier.com or 937-5592.