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Updated: January 6, 2025 @ 8:21 am
The two Fox Creek alumni teams pose with Andre Baskett (in the center) after the eighth alumni basketball in its first year as the Baskett Invitational.
Aiken Standard reporter
Taylor Beltz is a sports reporter for the Aiken Standard and the Post and Courier North Augusta. Beltz is a University of South Carolina graduate. Follow her on X @TaylorKaye09.
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The two Fox Creek alumni teams pose with Andre Baskett (in the center) after the eighth alumni basketball in its first year as the Baskett Invitational.
The Fox Creek basketball program honored its first boys’ basketball coach at its eighth annual alumni game on Jan. 5.
From now on, the event will be known as the Baskett Invitational after Andre Baskett, the school’s current assistant principal and its first boys’ basketball coach. Baskett has been at Fox Creek since its first year in 2004 and helped to start the basketball program in 2005.
“It’s a good time to see all the former players come back and be able to play,” he said. “Just being able to see their face and know that everybody’s doing good and be able to have that fun camaraderie one more time. So we want to do this every year and try to make it better and better for the next year because now it has my name on it even though I’m not the coach. I was the first coach here so they kind of named it after me. So I’m going to try to do a little bit better with it every year.”
The 12 alumni were split into two teams, old school and new school with old school playing as the home team in white and new school playing as the visiting team in read. Baskett helped to referee the game while current head coach Tim Butler controlled the scoreboard from the sidelines.
Some of the former players who came out included class of 2015 guard Brandyn Quiller, class of 2024 shooting guard Connor Cannon and class of 2021 guard Trey Butler.
For Butler, who is midway through his first year as head coach after coaching under former Fox Creek coach Andrew Peckham, the alumni game is a chance for him to stay connected with the players he used to help coach early in his career.
“It was great,” he said. “Seeing Connor Cannon, Malik Reynolds play is always a great, great to see them play. I miss coaching those two and then seeing some of the old players play, who were like leading scorers in the past was phenomenal as well.”
The new school team came out to an early lead in the first quarter and while the old school group closed the gap in the second half, it was the newer group of alumni who came out victorious 92-82. Throughout the game, members of the current team cheered from the sidelines in a lighthearted competition between the program’s alumni.
Baskett has gotten to continue watching the program change throughout the last 20 years even after stepping down as head coach. He praised Butler for coaching the current group to a 9-7 start to the year.
“It’s a good feeling,” Baskett said. “Big ups to Coach Butler in his first year. Doing well with a young group that he has.”
He has continued to be a mentor for Butler as he starts his tenure as head coach of the Predators. As another person who has been around the Fox Creek basketball program for a long time, Butler knows how big it is to have someone like Baskett supporting the team.
“It’s been amazing,” he said. “When I was a little kid, he was the first coach here. So seeing him take a program from where it was to where it is now and me coaching now, it’s been a phenomenal experience. Great learning from a legend.”
Aiken Standard reporter
Taylor Beltz is a sports reporter for the Aiken Standard and the Post and Courier North Augusta. Beltz is a University of South Carolina graduate. Follow her on X @TaylorKaye09.
To support local journalism, sign up for a subscription. See our current offers »
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