The voice in the lobby of the Dorman arena indicated Wednesday’s matchup was something special.
An internet feed of the Cavaliers’ game against Spartanburg Day School was piped out to those waiting in concession lines, and included color analysis by longtime Spartanburg High coach and Dorman arch-rival Doug Lowe.
That’s far from an everyday occurrence.
Lowe and his broadcast team, two other internet broadcast sources, and a sellout crowd of more than 3,000 turned out to see Dorman take on Spartanburg Day and McDonald’s All-American Zion Williamson. The Duke commit did not disappoint, even in a 78-61 loss for the Griffins.
Williamson scored 39 points, many on an array of dunks that brought the crowd to its feet. The first three trips down the floor for the Griffins resulted in jams from Williamson, and Spartanburg Day raced out to a 9-2 lead early.
The story of the night for Dorman was the emergence of Myles Tate. The sophomore guard tallied 34 points, a career high, and hit from seemingly everywhere. The capacity crowd and the size of the moment weren’t too big for Tate.
“We knew we had to match their intensity,” he said. “They’re a great team with great players, and it was a lot of fun out there.”
It was a lot of fun to watch, even for an opposing coach. Dorman’s Thomas Ryan said the game was a big one for basketball in the area.
“It’s just awesome to see great players play,” he said. “Zion is a once in 25 years player. We won’t see another one as good as him for at least that long. But we have good players, too. We have guys that buy in to what we do, and boy, Myles Tate really put himself on the map tonight.”
Ryan said the sellout crowd made the game even more special.
“This is the best crowd we’ve had here since I’ve been at Dorman,” he said. “The place was packed. At 5:15 when the door opened, there was a line as long as you can see. That’s a compliment to Zion, but also to our guys. We won a state title last year, and we expect to win every time we go out there. This was big for us, and I hope we’re getting into a little bit of a flow as the playoffs get closer.”
Spartanburg Day coach Lee Sartor said his team enjoyed the atmosphere, but wished for a different outcome.
“You definitely want to be on the other end of that one,” he said. “But I think we’ll be better because of the experience. We don’t want to feel like this again, but at least it was in a non-conference game. It was a good atmosphere, and I think we played well, especially in the first couple of minutes.”
In the girls game, Dorman used a 20-9 first quarter run to stay comfortably in front for the remainder of the contest and cruised to a 66-48 victory. The Cavaliers got 21 points from Alexis Rice, 12 from Nina Otah and 11 from Moneya Manuel in the victory.
Lauren Oakes led the Griffins with 13 points.