By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

GARDEN CITY – South Effingham’s boys opened the basketball season Friday night with a ray of optimism against Woodville-Tompkins.

The Mustangs trimmed a 14-point, second-half deficit to one before the host Wolverines made free throws to pull away, 66-61.

It was an encouraging showing for SEHS, which went winless last season. Woodville was a 22-win squad that went to the state playoffs.

“(The Mustangs) are what I thought they would be. They play hard and play together,” South coach Rico Campbell said.

Take away a rough 1:49 patch of the second quarter and the Mustangs had the better of play. Will Harlin, who earned second-team all-region honors last season, led South with 17 of his 23 points coming in the second half.

Marcus Campbell and Michael Hall had 13 and 10 points respectively.

But the Wolverines’ 13-0 run at the end of the second quarter was lethal. Jonathan Pickering had nine points within 62 seconds while dominating in the paint and a game that had four ties and four lead changes in the first quarter, suddenly had Woodville bolting to a 36-23 lead.

Two free throws and a dunk by Pickering expanded the Wolverines’ advantage to 14, 48-34, with 1:22 left in the third quarter.

South trailed 50-40 heading into the final quarter.

But Harlin, Campbell and Hall combined for 19 of the Mustangs’ 21 fourth-quarter points to fuel a furious rally.

Coach Rico Campbell said the squad’s trapping press was a key in forcing numerous turnovers. SEHS battled on the boards as well.

Marcus Campbell followed up a missed shot and hit a subsequent free throw for a three-point play to slice Woodville’s advantage to 56-53 with 4:09 to go.

Woodville, however, made 8-of-10 free throw shots during the final 1:13. The barrage of free throws began during a loose-ball scramble when some pushing occurred and a technical foul was assessed against South.

Pickering’s two free throws built Woodville’s lead to five, 60-55.

Hall’s layup – South’s first basket after a three-minute drought – and Harlin’s pair of free throws tightened the game to 61-59 with 46.3 seconds left before four more Wolverine free throws sealed the win.

Despite the loss, Campbell saw a lot of positives. His team battled on the boards and played with defensive intensity despite missing five players, including second-team all-region guard Corbin McGuire, who were still in their final week of football.

Last season, 15 of South’s 22 losses were by 20 or more points.

“I feel like we can play with people now. It’s not going to be a bunch of 30-point losses,” Campbell said.

SEHS and Woodville-Tompkins will meet again Nov. 15 in Guyton.