Second ‘retirement’ thrice as nice for HHP’s Barron

By Justin Jarrett

Contributor

Richard Barron didn’t even plan on coaching basketball when he left the University of Maine to retire to Hilton Head Island.

Three rings later, he’s really hanging up the whistle at Hilton Head Prep this time.

Barron’s boys made his swansong a special one, routing Pee Dee Academy 45-19 behind 14 points from Ty Harpring, finishing off a 26-4 season with a 12-game winning streak and a third consecutive SCISA 3A championship.

“It was never the plan to coach,” Barron said on the LowcoSports Lowdown postgame. “It was just to come down here and watch (my son Billy) play. But it’s been a great blessing to coach him and all of his friends. It worked out great.”

Pee Dee hung in for the first quarter and pulled within 10-9 with a 3-pointer late in the period, but Harpring heated up and scored seven straight points to set off a 13-0 run and put Prep in command at the half, up 23-11. After the Golden Eagles scored the first bucket of the second half, the Dolphins rattled off another 14-0 run, culminating with Billy Barron splashing a 3-pointer, and the rout was on.

It was yet another dazzling display of fundamental basketball fueled by team-first principles, and true to form, eight players scored with only Harpring reaching double-digits.

“The main thing is we played as a team and everything we did, it was five guys on the court,” Harpring said. “It wasn’t one man. It was all five of us, whoever was on the court. We all played together. A lot of unselfish players who understood their roles.”

Cross girls repeat as champs

What seemed like a foregone conclusion prior to the season became a question mark through a tumultuous early-season period, but the Cross Schools girls’ basketball team ended its campaign with an exclamation, pulling away from Laurens Academy for a 45-29 win Saturday to claim a second straight state title.

After returning every key player from last year’s SCISA 1A title team, the Stingrays were expected to coast to a SCISA 2A title this season, but a midseason coaching change and the accompanying departure of point guard P.J. Benson left the program in limbo.

The Rays rallied with boys coach Doc Archibald taking the helm, though, winning 10 of their last 11 games, including five straight culminating with another championship.

Ryan Mayers, Genesis Wilson and Lex Maldonado were all named to the all-tournament team after the title run, but freshman Caroline Wheat was the unsung hero of the championship game, knocking down some huge 3-pointers to help Cross ease away after leading just 20-15 at halftime.

Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and is the founder of Lowco Sports. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.