The calendar read June 16 but the atmosphere would have indicated that it was closer to February 16. On court three of the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center, Lexington’s Cam Scott and Gray Collegiate’s Braylhan Thomas put on a dazzling display of dunks, three-pointers and basketball brilliance in front of the largest crowd of the afternoon that also featured division one head coaches like Alabama’s Nate Oats and South Carolina’s Lamont Paris.

With the back and forth action, high level talent and competitiveness on the floor, it felt like a game with the magnitude of a crucial regular season game.

Scott and the Lexington Wildcats were fresh off a 44-43 win over Lancaster and Gray Collegiate hit the floor after easily beating defending 5A champion Dorman. 

Gray Collegiate came out of the gates red hot, with three-pointers and easy inside looks to gain a shocking 23-2 advantage five minutes into the game. Then, Scott happened.

After not attempting a single shot before that time, Scott scored the next 14 points for the Wildcats. He hit four consecutive three-point shots and electrified the crowd with a breakaway slam dunk. He kept the hot hand towards the end of the half and finished the frame with 21 to give them a 34-30 lead. Scott, along with fellow backcourt mates Jaxon Prunty and Kaleb Evans, conducted a 32-7 run that made the game feel like the Wildcats had full control.

Both teams exchanged leads in the second half after Thomas and the War Eagles battled back to erase a deficit that almost reached double digits.

With the War Eagles holding a 51-47 lead with just under seven minutes remaining, they delivered the knockout punch.

Fueled by alley-oop dunks from Thomas and Ellis Graham as well as back-breaking three-pointers from the backcourt, Gray Collegiate ended the game with a massive run of their own to take over and pull out a resounding 67-53 win.

“We started out really good you know but we got complacent by taking some bad shots and turned the ball over a time or two but we finally got it together in the second half,” Gray Collegiate head coach Dion Bethea said. “The zone bothered us a little bit but I’m proud of how they responded. That’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s what champions do, they come out and respond that way.”

With all of the hype around Scott (who is a top 35 recruit in the country according to 247 Sports), Bethea said he thought the match-up with Thomas guarding Scott helped get the best out of one of his star players.

“He wanted that match-up,” he said. “They play together in summer basketball and you know, Brayhlan showed that he’s a division one kid as well.”

Thomas, whose spectacular leaping ability and offensive arsenal helped separate Gray Collegiate, agreed that the match-up with Scott and the presence of high level college coaches amped him up to a whole new level.

“That’s my boy. We play on the same AAU team so we both know the competition level we both play at and we competed,” Thomas said, referring to Scott. “The coaches wanted to see a show so we had to put on a show. I want to go to college so I gotta pay for it. So I’m gonna pay for it on the court.”

If a show is what Thomas promised to put on for college coaches, what he and Scott did could be considered theater. It attracted the largest crowd of any game by far. Scott, who still managed to score 32 points in a 40-minute running clock game, drew quite the reaction with his highlight reel dunks and lights out three-point shooting. For him, the head to head competition with Thomas was a unique opportunity to compete against someone he’s grown to respect as a teammate.

“We have a good relationship,” Scott said. “So coming out here, we just want each other to get better., just going after each other the whole game and then at the end of the day it’s all love. I feel like us two guarding each other is really just a testament that we both need it. We don’t really guard each other too much in practice so coming out here and being able to play for our school teams and go head to head, it was just something fun.”