By By KEVIN TRAVIS and BRIAN HAINES
YEATESVILLE — Picking up victories Saturday on the first day of the 30th annual WDN/PotashCorp Aurora Holiday Tournament were Washington, East Carteret, Pamlico and Mattamuskeet.
Those four teams are now in the hunt for the tournament championship trophy. Tournament action at Northside High School resumes Monday with four games, followed by four more games Tuesday.
Pack tops Seahawks
Washington came out firing from anywhere and everywhere, burying eight 3-pointers in the first half en route to a 97-67 win over Southside.
The Pam Pack (5-5) also got balanced scoring as six players scored in double figures in the victory. Washington advanced to play Pamlico in a winner’s bracket game at 6 p.m. Monday. Southside (2-5) fell into the loser’s bracket and will take on Creswell at 3 p.m. Monday.
“It’s just amazing that we go from 23 percent (shooting) to tonight, where we hit our shots,” Washington coach Joe Lawrence said. “When we get off to a good start, good things happen.
“We were able to get some steals and that got us going.”
Washington beat Southside twice before this season, but never shot the ball like it did Saturday.
“The two teams we played them before, they didn’t shoot that well,” Southside coach Dwayne White said. “They shot very well tonight.
“But we didn’t come out with very much enthusiasm either. I think their traps really took us out of our game. We weren’t prepared and they played very well.”
Chris Albritton paced the Pack with 17 points. Also hitting for double digits were Ridge Hodges (15), Lindsey Harris (12), Brandon Tripp (11), Josh O’Neal (11) and Taraja Langley (10).
Jordan Benston paced the Seahawks with 19 points. Curtis Myers added 14 points.
Harris buried three triples and scored all 12 of his points in the first quarter, as Washington led 26-13. Four Washington players had reached double figures by the end of the first half, helping the Pack take a 58-29 advantage.
Washington 26 32 17 32 — 97
Southside 13 16 15 23 — 67
Washington (97)
Chris Albritton 17, Ridge Hodges 15, Lindsey Harris 12, Brandon Tripp 11, Josh O’Neal 11, Taraja Langley 10, Horton 8, Graham 6, Windley 3, Chance 2, Conner 2.
Southside (67)
Jordan Benston 19, Curtis Myers 14, Grice 7, Ruffin 6, Blount 6, Williams 4, Murray 4, Selby 4, Green 2, Jordan 1.
Mariners sink Panthers
Tre Godette hit four clutch free throws in the final moments, helping East Carteret knock off Northside, 65-56.
The Mariners (3-3) will now play Mattamuskeet at 7:30 p.m. Monday in a winner’s bracket game. Northside (4-5) will take on Terra Ceia at 4:30 p.m. Monday in a loser’s bracket contest.
Godette (18 points) and Matthew Collins (17 points) hit big shots in the fourth for East Carteret, when the Mariners used a 22-13 run to take the win.
Despite the win, the skipper of the Mariners was not pleased.
“This is our sixth game of the season and by far this was our worst effort,” East Carteret coach Billy Anderson said. “We didn’t play hard. The bottom line is, we weren’t ready to play.
“We just have to grow up and do it. We have to be ready to play.”
Northside coach Mike Proctor, who saw his Panthers pull out a clutch win a night earlier against Perquimans, didn’t see that same late magic this time around.
“We weren’t able to make the plays,” Proctor said.
Calvin Cox pumped in a game-high 20 points for the Panthers. Taylor Woolard and Isaiah McCullor added nine apiece.
Northside held leads of 18-15 and 34-28 after the first two quarters, but East Carteret tied it at 43-43 heading into the fourth.
A big three-point play by Collins gave East Carteret a 57-48 lead. Woolard got inside for a couple layups to pull Northside within five points, but Godette’s free throws kept the Panthers at bay.
East Carteret 15 13 15 22 — 65
Northside 18 165 9 13 — 56
East Carteret (65)
Tre Godette 18, Matthew Collins 17, Chris Lewis 9, Long 6, Nelson 6, Cahoon 6, Dameron 2, Johnson 1.
Northside (56)
Calvin Cox 20, Woolard 9, McCullor 9, Weston 6, Cahoon 6, Harvey 4, Martin 2.
Lakers top Knights
Mattamuskeet got off to a fast start in the 30th annual Washington Daily News/PotashCorp Aurora Holiday Tournament as it used an 11-2 run in the first quarter to top Terra Ceia 53-21 in the first game of the tournament on Saturday.
Lakers’ center David Grays had a phenomenal game as he dominated inside the paint on both ends of the floor.
The lanky center scored on a variety of moves ranging from hook shots to drop steps to tally a game-high 28 points for the Lakers (5-3, Tideland Conference).
Mattamuskeet coach Melvin Blount said Grays’ effort was nice to see after the center had, had a sub-par game his last time out.
“I’m glad he came out and played hard, he needed a good game after the way he played last Tuesday; his mind just wasn’t in the game. But I think he came to play tonight,” Blount said. “He did a good job on the boards and once we got it in the paint to him he scored.”
Grays did a nice job of establishing position in the paint, and his teammates were equally adept at getting the ball to him.
Devonte Green also had a nice outing as he netted 10 points for the Lakers.
The first game of the tourney was not as memorable for Terra Ceia (6-4, Tarheel Independent Conference), which managed only 11 points by halftime and had no answers defensively for Grays.
“He just controlled the inside,” Terra Ceia coach Roger Klaassen said. “We just didn’t do some things against him that we should have. When you do that against a good player you are going to get hurt. They just overpowered us inside.”
Mattamuskeet will move on in the winners’ bracket when the tournament resumes on Monday to face East Carteret at 7:30 p.m. , while the Knights will look to rebound against Northside at 4:30 p.m.
Hurricanes beat Tigers
The Tigers mounted several late rallies but could never sustain their momentum long enough to suppress Shane Whitfield and the Hurricanes, as Creswell fell 67-57 to Pamlico in the second game of the Washington Daily News/PotashCorp Aurora Holiday Tournament.
Whitfield, who stands roughly six-feet-four-inches tall, dominated from every angle on the court on Saturday and when he was done he collected a game-high 30 points and a trip to the winners’ bracket of the tournament.
Whitfield did everything from posting up for points to slashing to the hoop as the sophomore teamed up with Anthony McCray (18 points) to fend off the (Tigers 3-4, Tideland Conference).
The Tigers trailed a majority of the game, but managed to take a 39-38 lead in the third quarter when Justin Phelps buried a 15-foot jumper with 2:00 left in the quarter. However, Pamlico (5-4, Coastal Plains) quickly recaptured the lead and took a 45-41 advantage into the final stanza.
Creswell breathed down the Hurricanes’ necks for the first four minutes and gathered steam when a Phelps three pointer cut the deficit to 55-50. However, a staunch defensive effort and 12-fourth quarter points from Whitfield helped quite Creswell.
“We changed defenses a lot, we probably played about six defenses total because we wanted to keep them off balance,” Pamlico coach Earl Sadler said. “(Creswell) has some good shooters and they are very athletic so we just tried really hard to keep them off balance.”
Sadler said praised Whitfield’s efforts and energy after the game.
“He is very versatile, he plays all five positions for us,” Sadler said. “He plays a bunch of minutes, usually about 30-32 a game, and he just always seems to have a lot left in the tank at the end of the game. I don’t know how he does it.”
Creswell coach Wayne Rogers said his team’s youth contributed to the Tigers inability to overtake the Hurricanes.
“It’s just a lot of inexperience, but we are working on it,” Rogers said. “We can play, we just don’t know what we can do yet.”
That lack of experience showed up in the team’s inability to hold on to the ball.
“We just made too many turnovers,” Rogers said. “We don’t know how to get the ball to the people that can shoot, but once we get that together we will be all right.”
When the tournament resumes on Monday the Tigers will face Southside in the losers’ bracket at 3 p.m., while Pamlico will play Washington in the winners’ bracket at 6 p.m.