The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: Ragin Prep's final OG Shannon looks to lead Rams to consecutive state titles

Five years ago, the basketball program was born at Ragin Prep. One of the driving forces in the decision to start a team at the fledgling school was a middle-schooler who had never properly played organized basketball. Anthony Jackson, who has coached the program since its inception, still remembers his interview with Shawn Ragin.

"One of the things he said in the interview was, 'We have a kid here, he's been asking about basketball for about two years now. His name is K'den Shannon,'" Anthony said.

The soon-to-be Rams head coach walked the halls and expected to meet one of the tallest kids in the school. Instead he met a middle-schooler who had never played organized basketball. It wasn't long until the Rams played their first season. K'den was an eighth-grader as Ragin Prep won just two games, one of which came by forfeit. Five years later, he's an entirely new athlete. K'den is the team's second-leading scorer as they begin their quest for their second straight SCISA state title.

"The development over the years has been amazing," Anthony said. "I remember times when he was fighting for playing time just because of his size, but he grew up, and he's leading us today."

EARLY DAYS

K'den first started his dreams of playing basketball in the backyard at his grandma's house. While a lot of kids were playing at Sumter County Parks and Rec or the YMCA, K'den settled for the backyard.

"I always wanted to play (organized basketball), but I never got the opportunity to because of my mom's schedule," he said. "She never felt like she could be there, and she never wanted me to be someone else's responsibility."

So, K'den waited his turn. He started middle school at Ragin Prep and just wanted to get an opportunity to compete. Eventually, he got his wish.

Ragin Prep's program started in 2021, but they weren't formally a part of SCISA yet. The Rams played a limited schedule and didn't find a ton of success. Like K'den, most of the team hadn't played organized basketball, so they had to learn structure before the wins started to follow.

"When I met him, he could play. He had a little bit of handles, but he was a recess-type player," Anthony said. "So, we had to get him calmed down and make sure he understood the organized process. It's not just coming down the court playing one-on-one; you have to play defense. Over the years, he grew, and it's just been amazing to watch. He started from the bottom and made his way to the top."

The Rams had to find their identity, but it was a process. They won just two games in that first season, but they were learning and growing every day.

"It was a lot of trial and error," K'den said. "We always wanted to make state, but that was never the goal (in the beginning). Every year we had a different goal. For the first year, we were trying to figure out who everyone was on the team. For the second year, we wanted to see if we could win the region. For the third year, we wanted to have at least three players make all-region. For the (fourth) year, we wanted to make state, and we achieved that."

THE CLIMB

Through the years, K'den has been a reflection of the team around him. Early on, the eighth-grader was fighting to get on the court. He was small, but years of watching small guards like Stephen Curry showed the young hooper that one skill always translates: shooting.

"He's always had the ability to shoot," Anthony said. "He would shoot, shoot, shoot. I think that was because he was small; he was a little afraid to go to the basket at times."

As K'den grew on the court, so did the Rams. They played a region schedule for the first time in 2022. They finished the season 13-12, going 7-1 in region play on their way to the postseason. The Rams battled Jefferson Davis Academy in their first playoff game, winning 57-49 before falling to the eventual state runner-up, Richard Winn. K'den was a rotation player on an extremely young squad and kept growing with the team around him.

In Year 3, Ragin Prep was even better. They finished 17-6 and finished 9-1 in the region, though they had to settle for second in the region behind Curtis Baptist, their first rivals. K'den carved out more of a role, scoring about six points per game for a very balanced lineup. The Rams went a step further in the 2023-24 season, winning two playoff games to set up a matchup against Riverpointe Christian Academy. Unfortunately, the run ended in the state semifinals, but that was just the beginning of something special at Ragin Prep.

THE RUN TO STATE

Ragin Prep put all the pieces together last season, making a run to the SCISA 1A state championship, but it wasn't a walk in the park.

The Rams have never been afraid of facing stiff competition, but Anthony turned up the intensity last year. Early in the season, Ragin Prep faced larger SCISA schools like Laurence Manning and battled SCHSL programs like Mullins and local powerhouse Crestwood. Those games had lopsided results, but the Rams knew they were getting better.

"We were never backing down. Even though we went into games with low confidence, we always tried our hardest. We'd always put up a fight," K'den said. "We're 1A SCISA, the bottom of the bottom, and we've been playing 4A teams, 5A teams, all these teams, and that's what really prepared us for the state championship."

Ragin Prep lost to Crestwood, who was at times the top-ranked team in SCHSL 4A last winter, by an ugly final score of 91-53, but that was one of K'den's favorite games of the season. The Rams had fun battling the adversity.

"We tried so hard. I wouldn't say we failed; we got better. But we tried so hard that it made memories," K'den said of why he appreciated that 38-point loss. "Mostly we joke around about it, make ourselves feel good. We don't ever put our teammates down. We always make sure there's a joke. If we're losing by 50, we're losing by 50 to some good players."

Anthony was confident he could challenge his team with a difficult schedule because he knew players like K'den had the right temperament to handle an impossible task with pride.

"To be in these games against teams with far more resources than we have, it shows a lot about how mature they are," the Rams coach said. "To be able to stand in those losses and stay focused on what you have to do, it's a testament to how they're learning to appreciate the game."

Once Ragin Prep opened region play, they were unstoppable. They handled Mead Hall in the first round with a 52-37 win at Cardinal Newman before coming back to Sumter for a 54-34 rout of Marlboro Academy.

While it was a decisive start to the playoffs, K'den was in a bit of a slump. He finished the playoff opener with 11 points before scoring just three against Marlboro. His three-point shot was not falling, but that was all about to change on the biggest stage.

Ragin Prep faced their old rivals from Curtis Baptist for the SCISA 1A state title on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, and found themselves in a dogfight. The Rams trailed by 10 points in the second quarter when the two members of the original Ragin Prep squad took over. Omari Myers scored six consecutive points before K'den buried a pair of threes to help the Rams cut the gap to two before halftime. After the break, Ragin Prep slowly built a small lead but couldn't break away until K'den delivered the deciding blow, a three with 3:50 to play to push the lead to seven.

"It's like, 'Ah, I did it.' I just caught it and didn't even think," K'den said. "All playoffs, I was having trouble shooting it. That particular day, my coach told me, 'Don't worry about it, just let it fly.' And I just did that."

The Rams eventually finished off a 57-52 win, claiming the school's first state championship in any sport. K'den was the first one in line to cut the net, though he wasn't entirely sure what to do.

"I was confused. I had to start to cut the net, so (my mind) was all over the place," he said. "But I was definitely thinking about winning it again."

As Ragin Prep went into the locker room, it was pandemonium. This small school that was just four years into playing basketball made history, finally achieving a goal they've had since Day 1.

"That was like the first time we saw everyone really happy," K'den said. "Usually, even when we're winning in a game, coach would always have something to come back to the locker room to say. He came back and had no words to say at all, he just said, 'I'm proud of you guys.'"

Anthony looked at his team and saw two players who helped plant the seed. He was flooded with memories of the Rams' first practices outside at Southside Park during that inaugural season.

"To go from that and build a state championship, to see the growth and to build this program, it's special," he said.

K'den's attention also turned to the stands, where his family celebrated his shining moment.

"It was for them," K'den said of his family. "They did whatever we needed for us to want to have fun playing the game of basketball, so we did what we needed to get them a trophy."

NO GYM TO CALL HOME

The Rams made this run to the state championship without most of the basic resources most teams take for granted. Chief among them is the fact that they don't have a home gym. Through the years, Ragin Prep has practiced everywhere from Southside Park and the Birnie HOPE Center to the YMCA and Sumter County Parks and Recreation Gym on Haynsworth. While they play as many of their games at Morris College as possible, they still need to head to the Y for games from time to time. The Rams take pride in finding success despite not having the same resources other teams have.

"I feel like we do have a downside, but that doesn't mean we should use it as an excuse," K'den said. "Even though we're doing that, we won state, so there's no point in using it as an excuse."

Anthony simply sees a team that's willing to work with what they have, rather than complain about what they don't.

"In the beginning, we all kinda felt like we needed that weight room or that gym, but we look at it and can say we've been through situations in life where we have less, and we have to make it our own way," the Rams head coach said. "At the end of the day, we know there's a YMCA that has a gym and weight room, so we can get in there; Sumter County put up a lot of parks, so we can get shots up. We don't make excuses, we just do what we have to do."

AIMING TO REPEAT

After the celebration of their state championship faded, K'den and the Rams got back to work. During the summer, Anthony quickly saw how badly K'den wanted to lift the trophy again at the end of the year.

"Through the course of the summer, I'd get little random text messages where he's sending me workout videos, showing me that he's putting in the work," Anthony said. "We get to September and conditioning, we're running the mile at Dillon Park, and his times are always first. He just showed the leadership from Day 1. He's a standup kid who leads by example, and I hope these kids continue to follow in his footsteps because we have a lot of K'den Shannons."

His hard work is paying off. After averaging 6.8 points per game as a junior, K'den has rounded out into a dynamic scoring option. The senior is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.4 points per game, putting the ball in the basket from all three levels. K'den said one thing helped him take the next step this season.

"I grew in my confidence; I wasn't really a confident basketball player. The only thing I wanted to do was get on the court, shoot the ball and say I did my part," K'den said. "It was (the state championship) and the people that believed in me. There were always people telling me I don't always have to shoot the ball, take it to the rack sometimes. There's always people that believed in me."

As K'den finishes up his final regular season of high school basketball this week, it's starting to settle in that his time at Ragin Prep is winding down. He just wants to make the most of the time he has left with the Rams.

"I wasn't thinking about it at the beginning of the season," K'den said, "but coming towards the end of the season, I was thinking about it, that this is really finna be my last run, so I'm going to make the most of it."

With the playoffs right around the corner, Anthony can't wait to see how K'den, the last piece of that original squad, puts a cherry on top of his career.

"I just want to see him give it his all, leave it all on the line and we'll deal with the rest afterwards whether we win or lose. We want to win, and I think if we do everything we're supposed to, we'll get that outcome. But for him, I just want to see him leave it all on the line," Anthony said. "It's been an amazing five years with him, starting this program with him and watching him grow, literally. I was taller than him when we started; he's taller than me by a mile now. To lose a kid like that, I think it's going to put a tear to my eye. But, at the end of the day, I'm grateful to have him."

NEXT STEPS

K'den hopes to continue his basketball career in college, though it's a tough task coming from a school the size of Ragin Prep.

"It's been tough, but I would say I'm making progress with that," the senior said. "I've been getting a bunch of college open house invites, a bunch of camp invites."

Anthony wants to see him earn that opportunity, but not just for K'den. He wants to prove that any athlete willing to put in the work, no matter the resources, can achieve that dream.

"We're kinda breaking this thing of needing to go to this or that school," Anthony said. "If we can get kids like K'den Shannon and Kayshawn Rutherford, if we can get these guys in school to play basketball, it shows the community that if your kid is really working, they don't need all the resources. It's about how hard you work. It's a testament to K'den Shannon, who never played organized basketball until the eighth grade. Think about how many other K'den Shannons we have at Ragin Prep."