Gaffney to battle neighbor
By LARRY HILLIARD Ledger Sports Editor larry@gaffneyledger.com

Ledger photo by LARRY HILLIARD Johnny Woods and his Gaffney teammates will travel to nearby Blacksburg for a rare regular-season matchup between the intracounty high schools.

Gaffney boys basketball coach Mark Huff expects a challenge from the team just eight miles away.

Gaffney (12-2) and Blacksburg (1-11) have played twice recently in the Substation II Invitational but Saturday will mark the first regular-season matchup between the schools in years.

Huff said the matchup was made because both schools needed to fill an open date after their normally-scheduled opponents picked up another region game.

"We had an open date we needed to fill and Blacksburg had an open date," Huff said. "It was very convenient and it also helped that we had the same open dates."

Huff said despite the proximity between the schools there really isn't any rivalry.

"We haven't played them enough (to have a rivalry)," he said. "We played twice in a tournament, but we haven't played them in a regular season game.

"We are approaching the game like any other. We want to play well and we want to win."

Although the Wildcats have struggled this season, Huff said the Indians must be focused.

"We can't take them lightly," the Gaffney coach said. "(Blacksburg guard) Ken Littlejohn can score a lot of points. We have to defend them. The game will start out 0-0. Just because we are a Class 4A school doesn't mean we will start out with a 20-point lead. We will have to earn everything."

The Indians are coming off a big win at Mauldin on Tuesday.

Josh Corry scored 28 points, including seven in a row, during a crucial fourth-quarter stretch to lift the Indians to a 60-55 victory over homestanding Mavericks.

With the score tied at 41 with 5:15 left in the fourth, Corry hit a 3, a 2-point basket and two free throws to give the Indians a lead they would never relinquish.

Point guard Jazz Palmer didn't have a big scoring game, but came up big in other areas with six steals, six rebounds and six assists.

"Jazz just had a great game," Huff said. "He's like our sparkplug. He gets everybody excited."

The Wildcats will host region rival Chesnee today before Saturday's matchup with Gaffney. The Wildcats are 0-5 in the region.

The Gaffney-Blacksburg game will begin at 7:30 p.m.