Laurens swept by Hillcrest in basketball DH

The Laurens Raiders’ varsity basketball teams each suffered a road loss Tuesday night against the Hillcrest Rams in Simpsonville. The Laurens boys dropped a 67-50 decision in the nightcap of the doubleheader, while the Raider girls fell 60-33 in their game.
In the Laurens boys’ contest, Dee Foster picked up a team-best 26 points, including four 3-pointers, but Trey Hall of Hillcrest scored all 14 of his points in a span of 3 minutes, 46 seconds – helping spark what was a 38-12 run that flipped a six-point Laurens lead into a 20-point Hillcrest advantage late in the fourth quarter. Hall had one stretch where he scored 12 straight points – with a conventional 3-point play and three straight 3-point baskets accounting for the points – as Hillcrest eventually pulled away.
Dravious Copeland had 10 points for Laurens, which visits Clinton Friday night.
Laurens’ girls never led in their game but did find themselves down just 21-16 in the early stages of the second quarter. From there Hillcrest went on a 24-8 run that lasted until the third quarter.
Qua Fortson led Laurens with 10 points, while M.K. Moore had eight points.

PREPS
Basketball
Saluda 50, Clinton girls 43: De’Shanti Watts and Tinique Austin each had 11 points for the Red Devils, but Kalisha Hill scored 17 of her 27 points in the second half as the Tigers outscored Clinton 14-7 in the fourth quarter to pick up the road victory.
Saluda took advantage of its foul shooting to help its winning cause, hitting 13 of 17 attempts. Clinton, meanwhile, shot 14 of 35 from the foul line.
Clinton boys 55, Saluda 52: C.K. Vance scored four points, all on free throws, and hit three foul shots with 1.4 seconds left in regulation to break a 52-all tie and give the Red Devils their first victory of the season.
Vance had only scored one point entering the fourth quarter for the Red Devils before he came through in the clutch. Vance shot 4 for 7 from the foul line in the game, but Clinton struggled from the line as a team – shooting 12 of 29.
Jordan Davis had 20 points and Konnor Richardson had 11 for Clinton.

Upstate Bobcats 45, LA boys 35: Diamonte Grant had 13 points and Caio Rita added eight points for the Crusaders in the loss.

COLLEGE
Men’s basketball
St. Francis 64, Presbyterian 63: The Blue Hose suffered their eighth loss of the season in a setback against St. Francis in Brooklyn, New York.
Chris Martin and J.C. Younger had 12 points to lead PC, while Michael Isler had 11 points. The Blue Hose turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 16 points from St. Francis.
Unique McLean lead St. Francis with 19 points and eight rebounds, and teammate Chauncey Hawkins had 17 points.
PC is off until Dec. 18 when it hosts Jacksonville.