Knights Win Call Me Mister Tournament
Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Buckingham County High School boys basketball team defeated two neighboring rivals to claim the first Call Me Mister Tournament held at Longwood University over the weekend.
The Knights rallied past Prince Edward 50-45 on the opening night of the tournament, and defeated Cumberland 77-67 in the Championship game.
Cumberland defeated Park View 52-47 in the first round, and the Dragons rebounded in the consolation game to defeat Prince Edward 59-39.
For Buckingham, contests were only the Knights' second and third games of the year, but they looked to be well-conditioned despite playing two games in less than 24 hours on a regulation-sized court.
Buckingham toughed through a defensive battle in the tournament's opening game. The Knights got off to somewhat of a quick start to take a 12-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Eagles' defense stymied the Knights in the second quarter, leaving the Knights with a 19-18 lead at the half.
Led by senior guard LA Briley, who scored 10 of his game-high 15 points in the third quarter, Buckingham built a seven point lead at the end of the third, to lead 35-28. That margin proved to be enough to keep the Eagles at arm's length. Buckingham Drequan Scott scored six points down the stretch to preserve the win for the Knights.
Prince Edward was led in scoring by Quinten Logan, who scored 12 points, while Amonte Vaughn added ten points and Derek Robertson scored seven.
Briley's 15 points led all scorers, while Scott added ten. Tim Randolph scored nine and Cam Johnson had seven points.
Free throw shooting was a problem for both teams. Prince Edward was 6-15 (40 percent) from the line, while Buckingham was 14-33 (42 percent).
The Cumberland High School boys basketball team rallied in the late stages of the nightcap against Park View to take a 52-47 victory over the Dragons.
Cumberland trailed 33-24 at the end of the third quarter, before turning on the jets to outscore PV 28-14 in the final period.
Senior guard/wing Devonte Booker, who had been held to just five points through three quarters, scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Dukes' charge past the Dragons.
Booker hit two three-pointers and all three free throw attempts to help push Cumberland to the first-round victory.
Park View trailed 9-8 at the end of the first quarter, but used six points from James Brown in the second quarter to take a 22-16 lead into the half.
Cumberland's offensive woes continued after the intermission. The Dukes only scored two field goals in the third period, but they managed to keep the Dragons within reach, before Booker took charge.
Park View was led by Jamiel Davis, who scored 14 points, while Brown and Kaleb Johnson scored eight points apiece.
In addition to Booker's game high, Rashawn Sims scored 11 for Cumberland.
Park View was 8-11 (73 percent) from the foul line, while Cumberland was 11-25 (44 percent) at the stripe.
Prince Edward was able to keep Park View in a defensive battle for one half of Saturday's consolation game, but the Dragons adjusted and proved to be too much for the Eagles in the second half.
The Eagles jumped out to a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, due in part to 7-7 free throw shooting. Walter Christmas scored six points in the period to help give the Eagles the early lead.
Park View started to heat up in the second quarter, and pulled even with the Eagles at 23-23 at the half.
Park View continued to heat up in the third quarter, while Prince Edward went cold. The Dragons out-scored PE 15-5 in the third frame to take a 38-28 lead into the final period.
Kaleb Johnson, who was held to just five points through three quarters, heated up to score eight of his 13 points in the final period.
Meanwhile, Prince Edward continued to struggle from the field. Park View outscored Prince Edward 21-11 in the fourth quarter to take the victory going away.
The Dragons were led by Brown, who had a game-high 17 points.
Prince Edward was led by Christmas and Cleon Watkins, who scored nine points apiece. Robertson had eight in the loss.
Park View was 20-26 (77 percent) from the free throw line, while Prince Edward was 12-14 (86 percent).
Buckingham may have been kept from playing its fast-paced game in its Friday night contest against Prince Edward, but the Knights were able to get out and run in Saturday's championship game against Cumberland. Both teams seemed to like the pace in the 77-67 Buckingham victory.
The Knights wasted little time in getting control of the contest. The Knights held a 20-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Tariq Bartee scored 12 first quarter points to pace the Knights early-on.
Cumberland started to heat up in the second quarter. A pair of Devonte Booker three-pointers helped the Dukes crawl back into the game. Booker and Sims combined to score 17 points in the second quarter, which equalled Buckingham's offensive output in the period.
Buckingham held a 37-28 lead at the intermission, but Cumberland continued to chop away at the Buckingham lead to trail by just two possessions at 49-45 going into the final quarter.
Buckingham caught another gear, and despite the sharp shooting of Cumberland's VaSvon Boatwright, who hit four three pointers in the fourh quarter, the Knights were able to pull away, with most of their points coming at the foul line.
Cam Johnson was 9-10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter alone, while Tarian Ayers, who scored eight of his 16 points in the fourth, was 4-5 at the stripe.
Cumberland was led by Booker, who scored a game-high 25 points. Boatwright, who hit six three-pointers in the game, finished with 21. Sims added nine.
Bartee led the Knights with 22 points, while Ayers added 16, Johnson 16 and LA Briley and Tim Randolph ten apiece.
Cumberland was 9-14 (64 percent) from the free throw line, while Buckingham was 26-37 (70 percent), including 19-24 (79 percent) in the fourth quarter.
Cumberland was scheduled to play Fluvanna on Tuesday night, while Prince Edward was scheduled to travel to Central of Lunenburg on Tuesday. Both will take part in the Cumberland Christmas Tournament next Tuesday and Wednesday at Cumberland High School.
Buckingham will take part in a tournament at Altavista High School next Tuesday and Wednesday.
