Jameel Rideout, Malique Ewin take over in the second half to help Berkmar knock out Grayson

By David Friedlander | Photo by Jamie Spaar

LOGANVILLE, Ga. — Being short-handed is something Berkmar's boys basketball team has gotten used to lately.

So when the No. 3-ranked Patriots were missing a starter — on Tuesday it was senior Bo Hurns — for the third time in their last four games heading into their Class 7A quarterfinal at Grayson, they were determined to make it a non-issue.

That mission was accomplished thanks in large part to the duo of Malique Ewin (21 points, 13 rebounds, two blocked shots) and Jameel Rideout (18 points, four assists), who came up huge in the second half to help the Patriots hold off the No. 16 Rams for a 62-57 road win.

“'Short-handed' is a relative term,” Berkmar coach Greg Phillips said after the Patriots (25-4) advanced to the state semifinals for the second straight season. “A lot of people would love to be short-handed like us right now. The next guy's got to step up. They played great, and that's all you can ask for.”

As it turned out, Berkmar needed more than just one next guy Tuesday after two other starters, guards Jermahri Hill and Brycen Blaine, battled foul trouble throughout the game.

Hill, who entered averaging 18 points, three assists and three steals in his first three postseason games, had scored 10 points in the first 10 minutes before picking up his third personal foul with 6:29 left in the first half. 

He drew his fourth less than two minutes into the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Blaine, who finished with four assists and a game-high five steals to go with five points, slowly accrued fouls himself to limit his availability.

Grayson had its own foul difficulty to deal with after 6-foot-10 Clemson signee Chauncey Wiggins picked up his third in the first minute of the third quarter after scoring seven first-half points.

But both teams had other players step up.

North Carolina A&T signee Tyrese Elliott carried much of the load in the second quarter for Grayson by scoring seven of his 16 points during a 13-6 run that helped the Rams turn a five-point deficit into a 26-24 halftime lead.

But in the second half, Berkmar's tandem of Ewin and Rideout stepped to the forefront.

First up was Rideout, who connected from 3-point range 54 seconds into the third quarter and added two more buckets during a 7-0 run over the final 2:57 to help send the Patriots into the final quarter with a 36-29 lead.

He and Ewin also did their part in helping the Patriots hold Grayson to just three points in the third quarter.

Though he held his own on the boards all night long, Ewin ended the first half with just four points and still had just seven heading into the final quarter.

The 6-10, 240-pound Ole Miss signee and Phillips knew it was time for him to get more involved.

“(Ewin is) so unselfish, and (Grayson played) zone early, and we didn't do a good job of moving and finding him (in the first half),” Phillips said. “Then in the third and fourth (quarter), we just kind of, rather than run stuff, it was just me getting out of the way and let them do what they do best, which is penetrate. And (Grayson) had to help on the guards, and Malique was assertive. And you saw what happened.”

The bulk of what happened next came after Grayson rallied behind the hot 3-point shooting of Gicarri Harris, who hit 4 of 5 from behind the arc and scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter.

The first of the treys from the 6-4 sophomore resulted in a four-point play after he was fouled in the act and hit the ensuing free throw to pull the Rams within five at 40-35 with 6:21 remaining.

But after a defensive stop gave Grayson a chance to cut the lead further, Ewin made a play that changed everything. 

He extended his defensive pressure to the perimeter, batting down an attempted inbound pass to trigger his own fast break and dunk.

That play ignited Ewin and the whole team, as he scored eight more points over the next 2:23, six coming on dunks off of feeds from the Berkmar guards.

“That turned the fire up,” Ewin said of the steal and transition dunk. “What it did was it got my team going. … There ain't much (else) to say about (the guards). We work on that every day in practice, just executing that part of the game. That's really it.”

Still, Grayson refused to go away, with Harris continuing to bomb away from long range, including his final 3-pointer of the night to pull the Rams within 48-44 with 3:07 left.

But two free throws by Ewin on the next trip up the court and a conventional three-point play by Blaine with 2:16 remaining to answer two Harris free throws helped Berkmar keep Grayson at arm's length.

And the Patriots connected on 10 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter, including 5 of 6 in the final 30.9 seconds — four of which came from Rideout — to secure their trip to the final four.

There, they await the winner of Wednesday's late quarterfinal between  Pebblebrook and Milton, which defeated Berkmar in last year's title game. The state semifinal will be at 8 p.m. Saturday at Buford City Arena.

“We'll celebrate this win for the next hour,” Phillips said. “After that, we get to work on both (Pebblebrook and Milton). For this team, we've talked all tournament about, 'Just earn 32 more minutes for these seniors.' We've earned 32 more minutes. That's all we've been getting. Now we've got to get ready to play our butts off for 32 minutes and maybe try to earn 32 more.”