PINETOWN — On paper, Washington had a decisive advantage in depth and size in Tuesday’s Northside Holiday Tournament final against Terra Ceia. That’s not how it played out on the court. The Knights asserted themselves inside, outside and all over the court in a 74-56 win over the Pam Pack.

The two-day tournament was something the Knights anticipated all season. Competing in the NCISAA, they were eager to test themselves against local 1-A and 2-A teams.

 

“I told those guys before in the locker room. They asked me earlier in the year and said they want to play competition,” Knights coach Roger Klaassen said. “Now you’ve got it. Step to the challenge. You saw what these kids are made of. That was a team effort. That was heart out there tonight.”

Terra Ceia used its speed and know how to jump out to an 11-0 lead to start Tuesday’s main event. Washington stayed in the game until Tyler Hendrix took over in the third quarter. He brought the crowd to its feet with a put-back dunk late in the first half. It gave the Knights a 14-point lead, which was their largest at the time.

Hendrix carried the momentum into the second half. He played like a man possessed, pouring in 16 points on his own to help push the advantage to 52-38 going into the final eight minutes.

“Our defense is our key. If our defense is working, everything works,” Hendrix said. He had a double-double with 32 points and 14 rebounds. “… We hardly ever play with a crowd this big. When it goes crazy, it puts on a run. When you have a run, you can’t waste it.”

Klaassen added, “That was, in the five years he’s played for me, I think that’s the best game I’ve seen him play. It was absolutely awesome. He was not going to be denied. He was on a mission. That dunk — that was a message.”

Hendrix knocked down four 3-pointers in what was a 21-point third period for Terra Ceia. Washington got long-range baskets from Harvey McCullough and Jirah Woolard, but couldn’t keep up with the opposition’s high-powered offense.

“We thought that we’d be able to out rebound them, and that would be our advantage,” Pam Pack coach Steve Flowers said. “If they were one-and-done at their end, and we’d get multiple shots at our end, that’s what we expected. They out rebounded us.”

After falling behind by double digits early on, Washington got buckets from three different players to make it a one-possession game in the first.

Terra Ceia pushed its advantage back to 11 early in the second. The Pam Pack got a needed momentum boost when Sharwan Staton slammed one down in transition. Suae Poe added a fastbreak bucket of his own to cut the deficit to 19-12, prompting Klaassen to call timeout with 5:19 left in the first half.

Austin Roscoe hit a trey coming out of the break. Shaiquan Moore — one of three former Pam Pack players on Terra Ceia’s roster — took two trips to the free-throw line. Messiah Barnes found Hendrix on the backdoor for a layup through contact. Hendrix then claimed whatever first-half momentum Washington had with the aforementioned put-back slam.

Washington posted 18 points in the fourth, which was its highest-scoring quarter. The Pam Pack couldn’t slow Terra Ceia’s offense, though.

The win was the Knights’ 10th of the season. They’re off until Jan. 3 when they play TEACH. Outstanding showings against larger programs leave Klaassen feeling good about where his team stands.

“I’m just excited for where we’re going,” he said. “This was a great opportunity for us to play some top-notch competition, and that’s good for us. We needed that. We’re ready for what lies down the road.”

Washington, on the other hand, has to go back to the drawing board. The Pam Pack sits at 3-9 heading into its Jan. 3 2-A Eastern Plains Conference opener against Southwest Edgecombe. Only one of those three wins has come against a 2-A club.