Lonnie Roberts likened them to peanut butter and jelly or Batman and Robin. Take your pick, Bluffton’s Tatyana Aiken and Tacoya Heyward are proving worthy of comparison to either iconic duo.
Aiken scored 15 points, Heyward added 11, and Samari Mitchell contributed eight points and five rebounds to lead the Bobcats to a 54-33 win over Freedom (Fla.), running their winning streak to six games.
Bluffton used its disruptive defense to run out to a big early lead and coasted from there, but Roberts knows the competition the next two days is going to be stiff. Bluffton will face River Ridge (Fla.) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday, and if the Bobcats survive that test, a clash with Carver (Ala.) would likely await in Saturday’s championship game.
“When you’re actually hosting a tournament, you want to be at your best,” Roberts said. “I thought we got off to a real good start and everything kind of mellowed out from there. When you get a lead, there’s just certain things you want to see. … We’re just trying to work on some stuff that we know it’s going to come down to, and we didn’t do a good job with it at all.”
Even with a 20-point lead in the final minutes, Lonnie Roberts had his starters in the game and continued barking instructions until the final whistle. As good as the Bobcats were Thursday, Roberts knows they’ll have to be even better to keep the inaugural B-Town Classic title at home.
Roberts was preaching about the details until the final horn, using several timeouts in the fourth quarter to impart wisdom that could aid the Bobcats in the rest of the tournament and beyond.
Bluffton’s focus during it’s 9-1 start has been on pushing the tempo and using its speed — Heyward was fourth in the state in the 100 meters as a seventh-grader last year, and Aiken can run, as well — to produce easy baskets and wear down opponents.
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“The only way to get on the floor is to run the floor. That’s our motto,” Roberts said. “That’s what we’re living with, just up tempo. If we find a team that can keep our pace, then it will just go down to something else, but that’s one bonus that we have, and we’ve been working hard at it. We’ve been emphasized running, running, running, running, running, and layups.”
In other games Thursday, Columbia High defeated Ridgeland-Hardeeville 35-26, River Ridge defeated Eastside, and Carver knocked off previously undefeated T.L. Hanna 53-44.
Play resumes at 2:30 p.m. Friday with Ridgeland-Hardeeville facing T.L. Hanna in the consolation bracket, followed by Columbia vs. Carver at 4 p.m., Freedom vs. Eastside at 5:30 p.m., and Bluffton vs. River Ridge at 7 p.m.
Story and photos by Justin Jarrett
