For the county's public schools, the holiday tournament schedule wrapped up on Friday with Glenelg and River Hill dropping games at the Milford Mill Academy Holiday Mixer.
Glenelg suffered a two-point setback, 59-57, against Friendship Academy, while River Hill lost 76-49 against Perry Hall. Both squads had lost their openers in the tournament on Thursday as well.
The Gladiators found themselves in a tight game throughout its game Friday, never trailing by more than 10 points. But ultimately a late comeback attempt fell short and Glenelg (1-5, 1-8) ended up losing its fifth game this season by single digits.
"We're still trying to find ourselves and looking for that game where the kids can look back on and say 'OK, we can do this,' " Glenleg coach Jansen McMillan said. "We're going to keep working and plugging away, but it's definitely a little frustrating."
Glenelg had the lead early on, 9-6, and was tied with Friendship at 13-13 after the first quarter. However, after those first eight minutes, the Gladiators never again had a lead.
Friendship was ahead by five at the half, 30-25, and after the third quarter, 44-39. Then over the course of the fourth quarter, the Cheetahs methodically built on the lead by creating turnovers. With 1:21 left in regulation it was 59-49.
All of a sudden, though, Glenelg found life. Nick Oates hit a jumper, Colin Randle and Troy Spurrier (20 points, 12 rebounds) made lay-ups and Matt Hammert hit two foul shots to make it a two-point game.
Then, with seven seconds left on the clock, Glenelg got the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead. But, after working the ball around the perimeter, Randle's 3-pointer as time expired was just off the mark.
"To be down 10 with 1:21 left and then to have the ball with a chance to win, that says something about the kids," McMillan said. "But still there were just too many turnovers before that, which put us in that position."
Friendship had four guys score in double digits in the victory.
River Hill, meanwhile, was out of its game with Perry Hall by the late stages of the first quarter. The Hawks fell behind 25-13 after one and never cut the lead under 10 the rest of the way.
Trent McCallum (17 points) and Derek Taylor (12) were relentless in transition and as outside shooters for the Gators. At one point late in the second half the lead was as large as 29 points.
Walt Moody did his best to keep River Hill in the game, finishing with team highs of 16 points and nine rebounds. Charlie Thomas and Evan Richardson chipped in with eight points apiece.
Ultimately, though, it wasn't enough for the Hawks to avoid their eighth straight loss to open the season.
Box scores:
Friendship Academy 59, Glenelg 57
FA: Thornton 16, Dorsey 14, Williams 11, Barkley 10, Larry 7, Marshall 1.
G (1-5, 1-7): Spurrier 20, Tolbert 15, Chahine 9, Oates 4, Dubbe 3, Randle 2, Hammert 2, Mirano 2.
Half: 30-25 FA.
Perry Hall 76, River Hill 49
PH: McCallum 17, Taylor 12, Frey 12, White 9, Aversa 8, Winn 7, N/A 7, Osuji 4.
RH (0-6, 0-8): Moody 16, Thomas 8, Richardson 8, Rivera 7, Check 2, Qiu 2, Sandler 2, Ruben 2, Park 1, Jimenez 1.
Half: 38-25 PH.
North Meklenburg (NC) 67, Glenelg Country 54
NM: Wiggins 31, Arnett 11, Brown 6, Stepoli 6, Burton-Harper 5, Watt 4, J. Brown 2, Hall 2.
GC (1-3, 6-6): Powers 19, Boyd 14, Moune 8, Jones 7, Barnard 2, Flores 2, Jove-Vives 2.
Half: 31-25 NM.