Michael Young - Sports Editor

Point guard Edward Givens drives toward the basket.

The days of celebrating with high-fives while the starters rest on the bench as the final horn sound still continues for the Jefferson Davis Academy boys varsity basketball team.

For the Raiders, the victories have come in large quantities this season. The team off to its best start in five years.
At 12-3 in the standings and currently ranked No. 3, Jefferson Davis Academy is one of the hottest teams in 1A class in SCISA.

First-year head coach Clint Inman credits hardwork to the team's resurgence.

"The players have come in and completely dedicated themselves to improving," Inman said. "The successes we've had so far has been the result of a total team effort. We have a very unselfish group of players. Offensively, we are doing a good job of spreading the ball around. Also the players we expect to set up in big games are making the plays for us down the stretch."

On Jan. 26 in Blackville, the Bowman Academy Bulldogs tried to derail the Raider winning streak.

Instead the Bulldogs were steamrolled by the Raider Express by a score of 41-21.

For JDA, the backcourt of Matthew Webster and Nic Jamison overwhelmed the Bulldogs, combining for 24 points, 12 steals and 10 assists rebounds. Jamison led the way with 13 points, six assists and five steals while Webster added 11 points, seven steals and five assists.

Others providing offense included Edward Givens, who led the team with 17 rebounds. Givens also had eight points, seven assists, three blocked shots and three steals. Also contributing to the offense was Noah Bearden with eight points and there rebounds. Brandon Howard had two points and eight rebounds.

"Offensively, we started out a little slow, but we picked up the tempo as the game progressed. Defensively, this was one of our best efforts of the season. We kept pressure on their shooters and never allowed them to get into any kind of rhythm," Inman said.