Bluffton boys find rhythm, win Bobcat Classic opener

First came the run of missed layups -- at least three in Monday night's opening four minutes. A spate of fouls also left Bluffton coach Brett Macy trying to juggle personnel without two of his top players for much of the second quarter.

Yet other than some frazzled nerves, the Bobcats seemed none the worse for wear after pulling away in the second half to dispatch Cincinnati Country Day 62-44 in the opening round of the Bobcat Classic.

Tyrese Sandgren scored 26 points as Bluffton (7-2) shook off the miscues after halftime to turn a three-point lead into an 11-point cushion by the end of the third quarter.

"I'm satisfied that we won comfortably without playing well," said Bobcats coach Brett Macy. "But the level of competition goes up starting tomorrow."

The Bobcats advanced to Tuesday night's semifinal against Fort Mill's Nation Ford, which also cruised with a 56-47 win over South Point (Belmont, N.C.). On the other side of the bracket is Florida's The Bolles School, with as many as four future Division I collegians on the roster.

"We've got to start playing better," Macy said.

Lorenz Taylor added 14 points and Jermaine Patterson had 11 for the Bobcats, who overwhelmed Cinicinnati Country Day with their active defense. The Indians (5-3) struggled to even get into their halfcourt offense, going scoreless for the first 4 1/2 minutes.

But at the other end, the Bobcats couldn't convert the turnovers into points. Though they scored the first eight points of the game, it could have been 14-0 with some better layups.

"We got some steals, but we just didn't finish layups. To me that's focus," Macy said.

Fouls also kept the visitors hanging around longer than Macy hoped. Javonne Watson picked up his second foul less than seven minutes into the game, and Patterson joined him on the bench 23 seconds later.

Sandgren, too, sat out the last 3:52 of the half with a second foul. From there, Country Day scored eight of the half's last 10 points to pull within 25-22.

"The halftime adjustment was not to foul," Macy said. "We had 12 team fouls in the first half and that slows us down. It puts them at the line, too, and it sits our two best players for the second quarter. So stop fouling."

Country Day also scored the first bucket after intermission to trim the deficit to one, but got no closer. Bluffton responded with a 12-4 spree -- and didn't commit a foul for the final six minutes of the third quarter, which ended with the Bobcats ahead 43-32.

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 11:38 PM with the headline "Bluffton boys find rhythm, win Bobcat Classic opener."