By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

GUYTON – Sophomore Michael Hall added his name to South Effingham’s crowded stable of guards deserving playing time Saturday.

Hall, who missed seven games with a hip injury, had a fourth quarter to remember, scoring 13 points in a span of 4:38 to help the Mustangs breeze past visiting Southeast Bulloch, 80-57.

Hall finished with 14 points to tie Will Harlin for team-high scoring honors.

“(Hall) is going to make a great impact,” SEHS coach Rico Campbell said. “He can create his own shot, go inside or outside to score. He can jump and he has a nice mid-range game.”

Hall, who had 17 points in a win over Woodville Tompkins, came off the bench Saturday in his first appearance in more than a month after being cleared during the Christmas break.

He started slowly and had just one point entering the fourth quarter, but sank three 3-pointers, a short bank shot and a layup during his scoring burst.

Campbell welcomed Hall’s contributions because the Mustangs want to use full-court pressure defense and the more guards hounding opposing players the merrier.

Hayden Lloyd, Harlin, Corbin McGuire, Marcus Campbell, Keiyan Wade, Nelson Rivera and Landyn White along with Hall can be interchangeable on the perimeter and they created an uptempo game SEB couldn’t match Saturday.

White had eight of his 12 points in the first quarter. McGuire had seven of his 10 points during the first 10 minutes.

“We’re not going to back off the press,” Coach Campbell said. “We want to be a pressure team. We have to push it and play our game.”

Hall’s highlight moments came during a day of highlights for the Mustangs, who scored their most points in a game and had their largest margin of victory in two seasons.

Fourteen SEHS players scored. Six contributed during the Mustangs’ first nine points. Ten were in the scoring column by halftime.

South hit 10 3-pointers. 

The Mustangs led 11-0 to start and held SEB to just one field goal during the opening 10:42 while building a 26-6 lead. They led by 20 at halftime (39-19) and stretched the lead to 30 (72-42) in the fourth quarter.

It was a surprisingly easy outing for the Mustangs, who beat SEB 54-46 in the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 14.

The Mustangs (5-9) have shown remarkable improvement during the first half of the season. But subregion play could be a step up. Three of their four subregion foes are Statesboro (11-1), Brunswick (11-1) and Bradwell Institute (12-3).

“I feel good about the way we’re playing,” Campbell said.