The Thanksgiving holidays are a wonderful time for friends
and family to get together and have fellowship. It also marks the first real
weekend of high school hoop action in the tournament format.
Having some computer issues, I have been delayed on the previews
but should have them in place for you in the morning.
I traveled to Columbia
on Friday to catch a couple games from their Thanksgiving tourney.
Brentwood behind 16 points from Josh Tidwell (Brentwood) and 15 from senior Anvil Nelson (Brentwood) coasted past Dickson County
in the opening game of the day. Jack
"The Natural" Montague was a veritable stat sheet stuffer scoring 10
points, snatching 5 boards, dishing out 6 assists and garnering 7 steals.
In the second boy's game, the host team Columbia Central ran
past Harpeth. James English (Columbia
Central) was knocking down three from all over his own comfortable gym,
while Jarvis Webster (Columbia Central)
and Dominique Parks (Columbia Central) provided most of the inside scoring.
I was particularly impressed with the play of sophomore guard Dedron Pillow (Columbia Central), he has a very nice
shooting touch and made smart basketball plays when he was in the game.
Donterio Dansby
(Harpeth) scored most of his points in the second half for Harpeth and
point guard Perry Horkins (Harpeth), just
coming back after a very successful senior campaign on the gridiron, is
rounding back into basketball form.
Back on the road Saturday morning for the final games at the
Knoxville Central Hoop Feast. Carter and Fulton were slated to tangle in the
title game, but both coaches decided to rearrange the schedule as they are in
the same district and will play enough this season.
Carter used 17 points from Lester Wilson (Carter) and 16 markers from Braylen "Vitamin B" Bennett (Carter); as well as, a friendly Springfield tip in to slip past the West
Tennessee crew 61-60.
A close game throughout, saw things really tighten up as
junior Zach Ballinger (Carter) drained
a three from the wing putting the hornets up 52-50 before Wright State signee
and jet quick Springfield rocket Corey
Stanton (Springfield), blew past his defender to knot the score again.
Bennett converted inside to move Carter ahead with 1:50 on
the game clock, before Stanton
mad a pretty dish to a deserving teammate to tie things up again.
Wilson scored inside, then
Stanton, who would finish with 32 points, scored again and Springfield held a one point lead with 11.5
remaining on the clock.
Stanton hit two foul shots
giving his squad the narrow 60-58 margin with 7.1 remaining when Wilson was fouled and
stepped to the line for two shots. He drained the first and then the drama
began.
Wilson's second shot caromed
off to the right and a scramble for the rebound was knocked into the air by a Springfield player and off
the glass and through the net.
Time ran out and Carter had the win.
In the nightcap, Auburn signee Jalen Steele (Fulton)
banged home 33 points and the Falcons overcame some Central bursts but
finished off their down the street rival 75-61.
"G-Smoov" Galen
Campbell (Fulton) finished with 17 and Reggie Garrett (Fulton) added 12.
DeAndre Mattheiu
(Knoxville Central) led the Bobcats with 18.
