To call Lexington High School a very familiar foe to Dutch Fork and head coach Brett Jones was an understatement.
The Lexington graduate, 1 of 4 head coaches in action Wednesday, prepared  his 7th ranked Silver Foxes to face his alma mater for the 3rd time this season. Dutch Fork had won the previous 2 contests and looked to continue that success in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs.
A strong start and finish helped propel the Silver Foxes to a 52-31 win over the Wildcats. It was the 1st post-season win in 3 years for Dutch Fork (18-9), who were led by 4 players in double figures.
All-Region selections Houston Jones and A.J. Knight joined Jarvis McClurkin in each finishing with 12 points. Fellow All-Region selection DiMarco Johnson added 10 points as Dutch Fork jumped out to a 9-2 lead and extended it as many as 21 points.
"We played really hard," said Dutch Fork head coach Brett Jones, who was named Region 5-5A Coach of the Year. "We came out and put it to them. We haven't been doing that lately. We've kind of been a 2nd half team. But we really worked hard about playing hard and coming out 1st and punching them in the mouth 1st as we did."
Adin Daniels had 10 points and All-State guard Cameron Scott, who played with a taped right hand, led the Wildcats (14-13). It was the 3rd straight loss to end the season for Lexington.
Meanwhile, Dutch Fork moves on to face another familiar foe. The Silver Foxes play host to West Florence, a 62-52 winner over James Island and a team who defeated them 62-55 in last year's 1st round matchup.
"We played them in a real close game last year," Jones said. "We had 21 offensive rebounds. We couldn't put the ball in the basket. They're really athletic. Last year, I know they lost a couple of good players, but I know they've got a really good team."

Irmo 58, J.L. Mann 54
Juice Keitt scored 16 points, Dylan Williams had 12 and C.J. Washington added 11 as the 2nd round Yellow Jackets won their 13th consecutive game.
The Yellow Jackets scored the game's 1st 5 points and led as many as 15 points in the 3rd quarter.
The Patriots (12-14) closed the gap to 4 points with 28 seconds left, but failed to score on their last 3 possessions.
Up next for Irmo (23-3) Saturday is a 2nd round matchup against Clover at The Temple of Doom. The Blue Devils defeated J.F. Byres 73-51.

River Bluff 48, West Ashley 42
Tae'jon Myers had 12 points and All-State selection Myles Jenkins and Grayson Renner each finished with 10 as the Gators earned their 2nd home playoff win in school history.
River Bluff (19-8) jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the 1st quarter. It would remain ahead until the 3rd quarter when the Wildcats scored 9 unanswered points to take a 25-24 lead at the 3:35 mark.
The Gators regained the lead at 28-27 entering the 4th quarter. They proceeded to score 6 unanswered points, 4 by Renner, to take a 34-28 advantage.
West Ashley only got within 5 points the rest of the way. River Bluff head coach Benjamin Lee joined Jones and Thomas Ryan of defending 3-time Class 5A champion as Lexington High alumnus who were victorious Wednesday. 
River Bluff now heads to the Grand Strand to face Conway, a 57-53 winner over Stratford.

Gray Collegiate 84, Brashier Middle College 51
The same day Latavian Lawrence became the War Eagles' 4th S.C. Basketball Coaches Association's Class 2A Player of the Year, the defending Class 2A champions won their 11th consecutive post-season game.
Chase McDuffie led Gray Collegiate (20-6) with 17 points, followed by Lawrence and fellow All-State selection Tauris Watson with 14 points each. 
Up next for GCA is Fox Creek, a 78-69 winner over Lewisville. 

Fort Dorchester 63, White Knoll 55 
Colleton County 69, Airport 51

S.C. HIGH SCHOOL LEAGUE PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
(GIRLS)
Friday's Games (7 pm start for all games)
Rock Hill at Irmo 
River Bluff at Carolina Forest 
Airport at Crestwood