After seeing an eight-point lead disappear over the last quarter, Tabb (7-2) managed to grind out a narrow 54-51 win against Gloucester in the championship game of the BayPort Holiday Tournament at Tabb High School.
Terrell Sheffey, who was later named the tournament’s most valuable player, started the game off with a bang after drilling back-to-back 3-pointers for Tabb.
Chris Bendit of Gloucester demanded respect in the first quarter by finding open looks in the paint. Bendit finished the first quarter with nine points.
With time winding down in the first quarter, Gloucester’s Demariyea Sills flipped up a layup while falling to the floor, drawing a foul in the process. Sills converted the and-1 opportunity to put Gloucester up 16-15.
Tabb countered in the second quarter by playing stingy man-to-man defense. The Tigers attacked the heart of the Gloucester defense and drew attempts from the free throw stripe in the process. Tabb connected on 10-of-16 free throws attempted in the second quarter. The Tigers took a 35-24 lead heading into halftime.
Gloucester refused to sit back and let the game slip away. The Dukes opened the second half on an 8-0 run that began to put the pressure on Tabb.
“Everybody makes runs,” Tabb coach Doug Baggett said. “You’ve just got to hope you withstand the run and hope you have something left down the stretch.”
The game intensified in the fourth quarter as Gloucester and Tabb battled back and forth.
Gloucester (3-8) strung together a 7-0 run with roughly five minutes left to play that cut Tabb’s lead to 48-43.
With 4:12 remaining, Gloucester’s Elijah Nelson wrapped up Jalin Pearson, who was attempting to convert a transition layup. The officials deemed Nelson’s foul intentional, sending Pearson to the line for two free throws and giving Tabb possession of the ball. Pearson came up short on his first attempt but splashed the second attempt.
Another haymaker was thrown in the form of a 6-0 run by Gloucester spanning less than two minutes. Justin Landers nailed a mid-range jumper with 3:17 remaining, which was then followed up by a pair of Berry free throws. John Patterson found himself alone in transition following a steal on the other end of the court. Patterson made the transition layup to tie the game at 51 apiece.
Sheffey made sure Tabb would not be denied a tournament victory on their own court. The senior drove the lane and earned two shots from the charity stripe. He hit the front end of his two attempts, which put the Tigers up 52-51. Perhaps the play of the game came next when Sheffey sent a beautiful outlet pass to Pearson in transition, which he converted with 40 seconds left on the clock to put Tabb ahead 54-51.
“He made all the right decisions tonight,” Baggett said of Sheffey. “He had a good night offensively and a good night defensively.”
Berry, who scored nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, had a good look at a potential game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds left but failed to hit iron, giving Tabb the heart-pounding victory.
Following the championship game, the all-tournament team was announced as: Eric Harp, York; Joseph Berry, Gloucester; Jordan Wilson, Gloucester; Rob Sebastien, Tabb; Jonathan Fahringer; Poquoson.
Tabb 54, Gloucester 51
Tabb (7-2)
Sheffey 17, Sebastien 11, K. Brown 5, Pearson 15, Jordan 4, Hunter 2.
Gloucester (3-8)
Berry 14, Sills 5, Nelson 4, Bendit 11, Patterson 6, Landers 4, Wilson 7.
Tabb: 17 16 11 10 — 54
Gloucester: 18 6 12 15 — 51
3-point goals: Tabb 2 (Sheffey 2), Gloucester 2 (Berry 2).
York Finishes Third at BayPort Holiday Tournament
The York Falcons made easy work of Poquoson in the consolation game of the BayPoint Holiday Tournament on the back of Joe Riddick’s 23-point night.
Poquoson (1-7) did some major damage early in the game, stringing together an 8-0 run in the latter stages of the first quarter. In doing so, the Islanders lost point guard Matt Blaser for the game with a sprained ankle and saw Aaron Taylor pick up three quick fouls.
Those problems came back to bite Poquoson in the second quarter as York (3-5) turned on the afterburners. The Falcons opened the second quarter on a whopping 16-3 run, outscoring Poquoson by a 27-11 margin in the quarter.
During the second quarter run, Riddick asserted himself by attacking the paint, earning 10 second quarter points alone.
“I missed a couple shots in the beginning so I decided to take it to the hole,” Riddick said. “The defense led to fast breaks and led to easy layups. The lack of talking — they didn’t know whose man they had at times — the miscommunication led to some easy buckets.”
The third quarter was more of the same as York continued to pour on the points, this time on the back of a 16-4 run to open the quarter. Poquoson countered briefly with a 6-0 run with 1:20 left in the third quarter, but was unable to overcome the up-tempo Falcon offense.
Riddick and Derrick Jackson accounted for all of York’s scoring in the fourth quarter, scoring seven points apiece.
York 75, Poquoson 52
York
McFadden 4, Jackson 12, Riddick 23, L. Simmons 3, Mandrake 2, Nanartowich 7, Hawkins 3, Riggsbee 8, Collins 1, Harp 12.
Poquoson
Blaser 3, Lawson 3, Taylor 6, Fahringer 13, Costulis 12, Zalameda 2, Firth 11, Berry 2.
York: 10 27 24 14 — 75
Poquoson: 14 11 15 12 — 52
3-point goals: York 1 (L. Simmons), Poquoson 2 (Costulis, Firth).
Hampton Roads Academy Earns Victory in Bishop Sullivan Tournament
Anthony Picott, Patrick Phillips and Bryan Hart did most of the heavy lifting as Hampton Roads Academy defeated Grassfield in the Bishop Sullivan Invitational by a final of 52-41.
Hart finished the game with 14 points and 11 assists, while Picott and Phillips finished with 13 and 12, respectively, for Hampton Roads Academy.
Following the game, Bryan Hart was named to the all-tournament team.
Hampton Roads Academy 52, Grassfield 41
Hampton Roads Academy
Humphry 6, Hart 14, Picott 13, Phillips 12, Roberts 2, Wingfield 5.
Grassfield
Williams 6, Cover 9, Coleman 15, Berman 2, Vaughan 7, Debrough 2.
Hampton Roads Academy: 19 13 10 10 — 52
Grassfield: 9 15 7 10 — 41
3-point goals: Hampton Roads Academy 3 (Humphry 2, Wingfield), Grassfield 4 (Williams, Cover 2, Coleman).
