The South Pemiscot Bulldogs varsity boys basketball squad graduated eight players of its 2020-21 squad that finished 17-8.

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff South Pemiscot boys basketball coach Jordan McGowan directs his team Wednesday at the Kennett Shootout.

Nevertheless, the pieces appear to be in place for the Bulldogs to enjoy continued success moving forward.

South Pemiscot returns four of its five starters - Mark Jones, Jonathan Parry, Shawn Kinnon, and Tawonn Amerson. All four returning starters will be entering their senior season.

“We’ve got a lot of pieces coming back and should be very competitive if everything falls into place,” South Pemiscot second-year coach Jordan McGowan said.

South Pemiscot looked every bit the contender at the Kennett Shootout Wednesday. The varsity squad beat Twin Rivers, East Carter County and Greenville to finish the day a perfect 3-0.

“We had a pretty good day,” McGowan said. “But it is the summertime and I don’t pay too much attention to results in the summer. We enjoyed it, however. Kennett puts on a great event that allows you to play for less of a cost and play a lot of teams. I really like how they have this event structured.”

Extra time was needed to determine a winner in its final contest against Greenville.

South Pemiscot standout Jonathan Parry hit a 3-pointer to secure a victory against Greenville in sudden death overtime.

“He was an all-district and all-conference player last season,” McGowan said of Parry. “I look for him to be a difference-maker for us again in the upcoming season.”

South Pemiscot trailed Greenville by single digits much of the way before putting together a late surge to force overtime.

“We were a little bogged down with it being our third game of the day,” McGowan said. “But we finally got into it defensively in the second half and made some good shots.”

McGowan says his squad will continue to focus on defense the remainder of the summer as it prepares for the upcoming season.

“We are working on defensive stuff,” McGowan said. “That’s about it. We are not running any of our offenses. We just want to figure out what we are going to do on the defensive side of the ball and have a little fun this summer.”