Glymph, Caldwell lead Bulldogs in home opener win

NEWBERRY — Newberry hosted Union County in their varsity boys’ opener in front of a packed crowd on Friday, Dec. 6th. The Bulldogs(1-1) did not disappoint and won 67-57 against the Yellow Jackets in a hard fought battle.

Newberry jumped out to an early commanding lead in the first quarter. Starting Bulldogs’ guard Isaiah Glymph got things going early for the home team by scoring their first three buckets of the game and scoring nine of his 18 total points in the first quarter. They led 18-9 at the end of the first quarter.

The scrappy Yellow Jackets fought their way back into the game in the second quarter by going on a 9-2 run to cut into the deficit down to just two points. The visiting team tied the game 20-20, but Newberry quickly reclaimed the lead.

The home team went into the half leading 30-24 at the halftime.

Newberry begin to create some separation on the scoreboard in the third quarter. They built their biggest lead of the game, 39-28, in the opening minutes of the period. Starting point guard Kenton Caldwell had a strong quarter. He scored seven points after going scoreless in the second quarter. Caldwell finished the game with a team-high 20 points and scored 15 of those points in the second half.

The Bulldogs went into the fourth quarter with a 46-38 lead, but Union County was not done fighting.

The two teams had a high-scoring fourth quarter after combining to score 40 points in the final quarter. It was run after run by both teams that went back-and-forth.

The Yellow Jackets opened the final period on a 12-4 run to cut Newberry’s lead to just four points. Bulldogs backup senior point guard CJ Earl provided a spark off the bench with six points, all in the fourth quarter, and had two steals. Caldwell had eight points in the fourth quarter including two huge made free-throws late in the game to put it out of reach for the visitors.

“It was a great game, but we are still working. We’ve only had six practices with all of our football guys being out. It was eight football guys so they still have their football legs. We usually don’t shoot the ball well in December, but overall I’m happy because over the years we would’ve found a way to mess that one up. We finished though,” said Bulldogs head coach Adonis Hill.

AJ Jeter and Jamel Howse combined to score 19 points and combined to grab double digit rebounds while dominating the paint on the defensive end.

Newberry will open this week playing on the road against Chapin on Dec. 10th and at home on Dec.11th to host Irmo before part one of their huge rivalry game against Mid-Carolina on Friday, Dec. 13th. Hill was asked about the Mid-Carolina game and he kept it short by saying, “We are focused on Chapin on Tuesday.”