Basketball Recap: Waccamaw Falls Despite Big Games from Wade Leventis and AJ Grate

Waccamaw and Orangeburg-Wilkinson squared off in some playoff action on Tuesday, but Waccamaw had to settle for second. They fell 59-47 to the Orangeburg-Wilkinson Bruins. While losing is never fun, the Warriors can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 103rd, while the Bruins are ranked 24th).

AJ Grate

Field Goal Percentage (Career)

02/18/25 @ Orangeburg-Wilkinson	75%
01/02/25 vs Latta	70%
01/17/25 @ Aynor	67%
01/03/25 vs Pee Dee Academy	67%
12/20/24 vs Ragin Prep Christian Academy	64%

Despite the defeat, Waccamaw had strong showings from AJ Grate, who went 6-for-8 on his way to 18 points along with seven boards and three steals, and Wade Leventis, who posted eight points in addition to seven rebounds and three steals. The dominant performance also gave Grate a new career-high in shooting accuracy (75%).

Even though they lost, Waccamaw was working as a unit and finished the game with 11 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Orangeburg-Wilkinson only posted four assists.

Orangeburg-Wilkinson's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Keith Smith led the charge by going 5-for-9 to rack up 18 points. Smith continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Jordan Robins was another key player, going 5-for-6 en route to 11 points.

This is the second loss in a row for Waccamaw and nudges their season record down to 16-11. As for Orangeburg-Wilkinson, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 19-6 record this season.

Waccamaw does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Orangeburg-Wilkinson, they will face off against Fox Creek at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Orangeburg-Wilkinson is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 54.5 points per game this season.