Blazers poised to take next step, hang first banners in 2023-24
From left: Senior Titus Shenton, senior Jack Pfister, head coach Jamar Armstrong, and senior Musa Muriithi.
When Jamar Armstrong accepted the head coaching position for Greer Middle College basketball in 2018, he knew he had his work cut out for him.
The Blazers’ program was fresh off a 1-18 season. Improvements were desperately needed. Armstrong came in and delivered them quickly.
In his first season at the helm, he helped lead a 10-win season, the first double-digit win season in program history. Armstrong helped bring the Blazers their first winning season in 2019. The program hasn’t had a losing season since.
“The first thing I did when I got here was tell these guys ‘We’ve got to compete,’” said Armstrong. “Greenville High is a winning program. I didn’t leave Greenville High to come over here and lose.”
With a 79-52 record since taking charge at GMC, Armstrong has stuck to his convictions. Now, he’s got the team that he believes can take things further than the program has ever been.
Led by seniors Jack Pfister, Musa Muriithi, and Titus Shenton, the Blazers are poised to make a run at a first-ever region championship.
“We finished 8-2 in the region last season, and I always emphasize to the guys that region play is the real season,” said Armstrong. “We were region runners-up last season. The next step for this group is to win our first region title.”
“We’ve just got to play together as a team,” said Pfister, who Armstrong describes as an “old school” post player. “I want to put that first region banner up on the wall before I leave and see it hanging there whenever I come back. We want to make a run in the playoffs too, and hopefully put a state banner up there.”
Muriithi—the Blazers’ star 6-foot-3 point guard—says the key to making it happen will be taking things day by day.
“It’s all about staying concentrated,” Muriithi said. “We can’t look at any games further down on the calendar, we just have to take it each day at a time. With it being my last season, I want to go out with a bang and give all I can to this school.”
Shenton—the team’s high-motor small forward—says improved shooting will make the difference this year from last.
“We’ve all been growing a lot in our shooting. Not just three-point shooting, but in general,” Shenton said. “And collectively, everybody has just gotten a lot better across the board. We know what we want to accomplish this season.”
The Blazers play in 2-A Region 1, a region that includes Landrum, Blacksburg, Chesnee, Liberty, and Greenville Tech Charter. They swept past everyone in the region last season, except for Landrum, who beat GMC in both of the teams’ meetings and proved to be the Blazers’ Kryptonite in region play.
This year, they’re hoping to flip the script.
“We went back and forth with Landrum in both games last season, but we had some not-so-good fortune with injuries,” Armstrong said. “We’ve been right there with them. They’re our biggest rival in region play, and this group needs to be the one to finally take that next leap.”
The Blazers won’t begin region play until after the new year, but the team is already off and running in non-region play. They’ll take on Green Upstate on Dec. 1 at home before traveling to face Palmetto on Dec. 5.