It’s sorta like Christmas turkey and dressing. The same thing keeps showing up each holiday season.
That was the case in local high school holiday basketball tournaments as William Fleming won for the sixth straight year in the K-Guard Holiday Classic, and Northside took home the championship hardware for the fifth straight time in the Northside Invitational.
But, like turkey and dressing, maybe not that surprising since Fleming came into the 3-day K-Guard at the Salem Civic Center with only one loss, while at the Northside gym the Vikings were undefeated.
Fleming, after opening round wins over Salem and Jefferson Forest, got a stern challenge from Cave Spring in Saturday night’s final before holding on down the stretch for the 72-62 victory. Fleming led by 9 at the half, but Cave Spring cut the deficit to four in the opening two minutes of the fourth quarter and game was on.
Fleming went on a patented 7-0 Colonel run that pushed their lead to 11 near the midway point of the final frame and it was enough to hold off the Knights. The win pushed Fleming’s record to 9-1, while Cave Spring fell to 8-4. The four Knight losses have come at the hands of teams who have only one combined loss.
In the championship game Fleming was led by senior center Robert Smith’s 19 points, while seniors Chris Smith added 14 and Isaiah Walker knocked down 11.
Crawford Enyart led Cave Spring with a game-high 25 points. Juniors Parker Huffman and Adnan Jasarevic rounded out the double-digit Knight scoring with 15 and 10 points, respectfully.
In other K-Guard action, Jefferson Forest took third place with the 56-51 win over Broadway, Salem claimed fifth with a 81-62 victory over Lord Botetourt and Floyd County outlasted Hidden Valley 54-51 to finish seventh.
At Northside, the Vikings swept the NIT with a 57-51 win over North Cross in Saturday night’s final. Northside led by four at the halftime break and 9 after three quarters before holding off the scrappy Raiders.
Julien Wooden paced Northside with 26 points with Kasey Draper dropping 12 points for the Vikings. North Cross was led by the 16-point effort of Mehki Hines.
Rounding out the NIT action, Roanoke Catholic took home third place with the 63-57 win over Rockbridge County, Blacksburg came back from a halftime deficit to knock off Franklin County 60-53 for fifth place, while William Byrd held Chatham to single digits in all four quarters to take seventh with the easy 62-24 win.
Bill Turner
