Tabb boys basketball coach Doug Baggett has preached about the success of his team coming down to role players taking some of the scoring pressure off seniors Kaleb Mitchell and Daniel Schiele, the Tigers’ two leading scorers who each average better than 15 points per game.
Role players were the sole reason Tabb jumped out to a 26-20 halftime lead on Poquoson in Friday’s BayPort Holiday tournament final.
Then Mitchell delivered an MVP-worthy performance over the final two quarters as the Tigers held off a late charge from the Islanders to win 50-44, avenging last year’s loss to Poquoson in the tournament championship.
Mitchell poured in 18 of his game-high 22 points during the final two periods, but made his presence felt on the defensive end, too, with five second-half steals.
The Tigers’ fourth-quarter lead, which began at 10, dwindled to four mid-way through the period, but each time the Islanders made a push, Mitchell had an answer.
Two separate times in the fourth quarter when the Islanders made a run to cut it close, Mitchell came up with a steal and converted a layup at the other end. Mitchell finished with nine of Tabb’s 12 fourth-quarter points on a perfect 6-6 shooting from the free-throw line.
“He’s been the whole difference for us all year,” Baggett said of Mitchell, who’s averaging right around 20 points per game so far this season. “Daniel [Schiele] had a big night for us last night (26 points in a win over York), but when it comes down to having to get it done, Kaleb is really the only one with the athletic ability to take over like he did; play in-your-face defense, make a steal and finish it off at the other end.”
Mitchell said he felt like he passed on his shot too often in the first half and came out of halftime with much more aggressiveness.
“I realized I wasn’t getting it done in the first half – some guys stepped up, though, and we were able to keep the lead at halftime – so I just tried to capitalize on a lot more of the opportunities in the second half that I was giving up in the first,” said Mitchell, who averaged 21 points per game in the Tigers’ two contests against district foes York and Poquoson en route to earning tournament MVP honors.
While Mitchell and Schiele were silent early, Tabb got excellent production out of forward Yoni Fessehai, who scored eight points on 4-7 shooting from the floor, and senior guard Jake Brown, who knocked down a trio of 3-pointers in the second quarter to help give the Tigers a 26-20 lead at the break.
“Early on in the season we weren’t sure what we had off the bench,” Mitchell added. “But over the past few games, the role players have really stepped up and given us a big boost.
“It shows we’re coming along.”
Mitchell outscored Poquoson’s entire team in the third quarter 9-8 as the Tigers held Poquoson to 2-6 shooting in the quarter while forcing five turnovers.
“That third quarter was the difference in the ball game,” Baggett said. “Kaleb finally got going, but we were able to get stops defensively and that set the tone.”
Sterling Fortune (12 points) and Luke Lang each knocked down big 3-pointers for Poquoson during the fourth quarter to keep the Islanders in it, but Tabb responded back each time.
After Lang’s long ball cut Tabb’s lead to 45-41 with 2:30 left in regulation, the Tigers answered with a perfectly executed out-of-bounds play in which Mitchell lobbed a pass over the top to Schiele, who converted the easy bucket inside.
Fortune later buried a deep ball with 32 seconds left in the game to bring Poquoson within five, 49-44, but Mitchell sank a pair from the charity stripe on Tabb’s ensuing possession to seal it.
Tabb, which through eight games of the season hadn’t put together consecutive victories, has now won three straight beginning with last Friday’s upset of Warhill.
“I’m tickled with the way we’ve been playing recently,” Baggett said. “We had spurts of really good ball tonight. The guys are gaining confidence and learning how to play together.”
Tabb 50 Poquoson 44
Tabb- 11 15 12 12 – 50
Poquoson- 9 11 8 16 – 44
Tabb (6-4)- Mitchell 22, Fessehai 10, Brown 9, Horton 5, Schiele 4.Totals 19 8-12; 50.
Poquoson (4-7)- Fisher 13, Fortune 12, Forrest 8, Spady 6, Lang 5. Totals 14 12-18; 44.
York Pulls Away to Beat Gloucester in Third Place Consolation Game
After leading by one point, 27-26, at the half, York outscored Gloucester 44-26 the rest of the way to win the third-place game of the BayPort Holiday Tournament Friday night.
Falcons’ coach Bobby Pearce said his team did nothing different in the second half in terms of X’s and O’s, but rather simply clamped down defensively and executed better on offense.
York’s defense was at its best in the third quarter, when the Falcons pulled away after holding Gloucester to just six points in the period.
Then the scoring came in the fourth when York dismantled Gloucester’s full-court press en route to a 29-point quarter. Sophomore Maxwell Trice scored 10 of his 18 points in the final period.
Maxwell’s younger brother, freshman Evan Trice, added 11 points in the victory, while senior guard Brandon Harvell led all scorers with a game-high 22.
“These Christmas tournaments are all about coming together as a team and competing,” Pearce said. “We didn’t do a great job of that last night (in a 71-54 opening-round loss to Tabb), but we came back tonight and played a strong second-half of basketball to get the win.
“I think we’re a tougher team after these two games.”
York 71 Gloucester 53
York- 16 11 15 29 – 71
Gloucester- 10 16 6 21 – 53
York (5-5)- Harvell 22, M. Trice 17, E. Trice 11, Reynolds 6, Cruz 6, S. Smith 4, J. Smith 3, Riggsbee 2. Totals 25 18-26; 71.
Gloucester (0-9)- Osborne 19, Berry 10, Wood 9, Bennett 8, Poole 4, Benditt 2, Ayers 1. Totals 21 6-11; 53.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Kaleb Mitchell (Tabb)- MVP
Daniel Schiele (Tabb)
Johnny Forrest (Poquoson)
Daniel Fisher (Poquoson)
Brandon Harvell (York)
Daniel Osborne (Gloucester)
