AC Flora boys draw first blood in a battle of state powerhouse basketball programs
AC Flora coach Joshua Staley believes Collin Murray-Boyles is one of the best players in the state, and he looked like it Friday night.
The 6-foot-7 junior scored 20 of his game-high 30 points in the second half as No. 2 AC Flora defeated No. 1 Irmo, 60-55, in the battle of top-ranked teams in Class 4A.
“I think Collin is one of the best players in the state, if not the best,” Staley said. “He just has to start believing that. He stepped up. We challenged him at halftime and he did a good job leading the young group.”
Murray-Boyles hasn’t gotten much attention or the recruitment like some of the top prospects in the state like GG Jackson, Noah Clowney or Cam Scott, but he is motivated to get on that level. He comes from a strong basketball pedigree: His brother, James Murray-Boyles, was a standout at Flora and then at UNC-Pembroke, and is now playing professionally overseas.
“Who doesn’t want to be the No. 1 player in the state?” Murray-Boyles said. “That is a small dream, but that is one of my goals.
“Coach Staley puts a lot of trust in me and stuff so I got to go out and do it for him.”
This was the first of two scheduled meetings between two of the favorites to play for the 4A state championship. They will play again Feb. 4 at AC Flora.
The game lived up to the billing and hype despite the crowd limited to 50 percent capacity because of COVID protocols. During pregame, Irmo coach Tim Whipple was presented with a game ball to commemorate his 800th win he got last month. Several former Yellow Jacket players were on hand to watch on Friday.
AC Flora jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter before Irmo battled back to get within 26-24 at halftime. The Falcons’ lead grew to 39-26 before Irmo, which has a knack for come-from-behind wins this year, chipped away at the lead and Teandre Summons basket cut it to 39-36 going into the fourth quarter.
Murray-Boyles helped Flora maintain the lead in the fourth with 14 points in the quarter. Irmo got within 54-43 with Dylan Williams’ bank shot with 42.8 seconds left But Murray-Boyles hit a pair of free throws to put the Falcons up 56-53 with 23 seconds left, and AC Flora got a couple late defensive stops to preserve the win.
“We got grit,” Staley said. “We respond to challenges. They do a good job of taking coaching. So we got a good group of young men.”
Brandon Crawford led Irmo with 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Williams had 15 and Summons 13.
“We were our own worst enemy out there tonight,” Whipple said. “We didn’t take care of the ball real well. Defensively we had a hard time covering. They have too many weapons out there, especially on the inside. We aren’t a big team or a strong team. We were exploited in the lane tonight.”
