The Brookland-Cayce boys basketball team have won 7 of its last 8 games and head coach Robert Wells like what he sees. 

The Bearcats will play the inaugural Cayce Roundball Classic at their new on-campus arena starting Thursday. The tournament will feature 16 teams from 3 states competing in 2, 8-team brackets American and National.

Local teams representing Chronicle Country along with the host team include 2nd-ranked Dutch Fork, Gilbert and top-ranked and 2-time defending Class 2A champion Gray Collegiate. 

Ranked teams A.C. Flora, Lower Richland and Westwood, along with Conway, Lugoff-Elgin, Fairfield Central, Hammond, C.A. Johnson and South Aiken round out the Palmetto State representation.

Lakeside and Westside high schools out of Georgia and Fleming Island (Fla.) are the out-of-state teams. 

“We’re young but very talented,” said Wells about his team. “We’re a guard-heavy team. We’re very deep at that position. We will have 3 or 4 guards on the court at a time.”

Brookland-Cayce’s guards are ChaMar Martin, Jahmari Kennerly, Skylar King, Zack McCoy and Christian Ferguson. 

The Bearcats’ post players are Aurbrey Richardson and London Tillman. Wells called Richardson a team leader. He also said his team will rely on defense to win. 

“Our goal is to win a region championship and a state championship,” Wells said. In 2017, the Bearcats were one game away from a state championship appearance before losing out to Dillon. Last year, Brookland-Cayce’s first in 4A Wells’ team, it defeated Bluffton on the road in round one of the playoffs before losing at Darlington. 

He said Region 5-4A is a tough conference with the likes of Airport, North Augusta, South Aiken and Aiken on the region schedule. 

“We have been to the playoffs every year since I came,” said Wells, who is in his 8th year at Brookland-Cayce. “It’s expected that we will go to the playoffs. We have raised the standard to that level.”

CAYCE ROUNDBALL CLASSIC 

(Thursday’s Schedule)

AMERICAN BRACKET 

Brookland-Cayce vs. C.A. Johnson 10 am

Lakeside vs. Hammond 1 pm

Conway vs. Bamberg-Ehrhardt 4 pm 

A.C. Flora vs. Fairfield Central 7 pm

NATIONAL BRACKET

Dutch Fork vs. Gilbert 11:30 am

Lower Richland vs. South Aiken 2 pm  

Lugoff-Elgin vs. Fleming Island 5:30 pm

Westwood vs. Westside 8:30 pm