It was an action packed night of basketball in Laurens on Friday. The Raiders hosted region rival Wren in front of a raucous crowd. The student section which was named themselves the "Flood Zone" in tribute to Head Boys Basketball Coach Armond Flood, was into it all night.
In the Girls game, Wren led 45-38 with 4 minutes left to play. The Laurens Girls would claw their way back and finished the game on a 12-2 run. Wren was held to just 2 points in the last 4 minutes, it was the defensive end turned into offense that propelled Laurens to a 50-47 win.
The Boys game saw the upstart Laurens Raiders take on the perennially strong Wren Hurricanes. The game really was a microcosm of the concept of "Old Money" vs "New Money". Those of us who have been around High School Basketball in the Upstate all know about Wren Coach Fran Campbell. He's the dean of coaches in the area with over 50 years at the helm at Wren and a State Title.
On the counter to that, Laurens is led by Coach Armond Flood. He came to Laurens prior to the 2022-2023 season after spending several seasons as an Assistant at Mauldin. Flood inherited a program that had won a total of 21 win games in the 3 seasons prior to his arrival.
Laurens started hot and jumped out to a 5-0 lead. After that adversity came in the form of foul trouble. The Raiders floor leader Senior PG DJ Martin picked up two quick fouls, one of which was a very questionable call. That took him off the floor for much of the rest of the 1st half. The Raiders were out of sync offensively. Wren capitalized on Martin's absence, finishing the 1st quarter on a 16-5 run after trailing, 5-0 early. The Hurricanes led 16-10 after the 1st.
Wren continued to keep the upper hand in the 2nd quarter winning the frame 13-9 and leading 29-19 at the half. The Raiders responded in a big way in the 3rd quarter, outscoring Wren 23-16 in the frame. That made it 45-42 Wren after three quarters.
The 4th quarter was back and forth with Wren maintaining their close lead for the first 5 minutes of the final frame. Laurens made a late push despite Martin and Senior Wing Tyj Jones being on the bench saddled with 4 fouls. In that stretch Sophomore Quinton Watts carried the load offensively and reserves Zakarion Simpson, CJ Bates and RJ Brewster-Snow had positive contributions.
Coach Flood held Martin and Jones out until the final 4 minutes. When they came back into the game the Raiders made a late push. They scored with 2 minutes left to go up 54-53. That was the 1st lead for Laurens since early in the 1st quarter. However, a mature and Senior led Wren team made plays late in the game.
The Hurricanes outscored the Raiders 10-3 in the final two minutes. The Hurricanes were able to get offensive rebounds off of missed foul shots twice in that stretch. Which changed the complexion of the game, Laurens also missed some good looks down the stretch. Wren would win the game 63-57.
Furman signee Baba Franklin led the way for Wren with 17 and Senior Forward Rhett Warga was also in double figures. Warga's used his physical strength to get key offensive boards late in the game.
For Laurens Quintion Watts and DJ Martin led the way offensively. While Franklin had 17 for Wren, he was held well under his average. Laurens did a tremendous job on Franklin defensively, challenging him with physicality. Of his 17 points, 11 came from the free throw line.
With the win Wren moves to 18-4 overall and 6-1 in region play. Laurens is now 15-7 overall and 4-3 in region play. Both teams have 4 games left in the regular season and three in region play. The region race is hotly contested with Wren and Fountain Inn at the top with just one region loss. Laurens and Westside both have 3 losses in region.
Fountain Inn has 4 games left in region to go. They are at Emerald, then host Laurens and Southside. They then will finish the regular season at Westside. Laurens has local rival Clinton in non-region action tonight (Saturday). They finish the season at Westside, at Fountain Inn and then host Emerald for Senior night.
Wren is at Southside, they then host Westside and finish region play at Emerald. They'll close the regular season at local rival Powdersville in non-region play, February 13th.
A major takeaway from what I saw on Friday night, is how far Laurens has come in less than 3 full seasons in the Armond Flood era. To go toe-to-toe all night with an annual contender like Wren and a coaching legend like Fran Campbell is a statement for the program.
The 15 wins for the program puts them in a position to eclipse the 17 win mark on the season which would be the most single season wins for the program in more than 20 years. Coach Flood went to Laurens with a vision, the players and staff have bought into that vision, which is bearing fruit and that is expected to continue.
