The opening round of the Bay Rivers District boys basketball tournament tipped off Monday night with no surprises as the top four seeds all advanced to Wednesday’s semifinals.
Here’s a recap of last night’s quarterfinals, followed by a look at Wednesday’s semifinal showdowns.
#1 Grafton 80 #8 New Kent 42
Led by recently named Player of the Year Elijah Moore’s 18 points, top-seeded Grafton cruised past New Kent 80-42 at home in the opening round of the BRD tournament Monday night.
#2 Bruton 78 #7 Lafayette 68
After relinquishing a 15-point second-half lead, No. 2 Bruton survived a scare from a resilient Lafayette team to win 78-68 in overtime. Following a spirited fourth-quarter surge led by senior John Fitchett, who finished with a team-high 28 points, the Rams ran out of steam in OT when they were outscored 21-11 by the host Panthers.
#3 Warhill 67 #6 Smithfield 61
Despite shooting just 21-39 from the free-throw line, No. 3 Warhill avoided another first-round exit by defeating Smithfield 67-61 at home Monday. In addition to poor free-throw shooting, Warhill head coach Justin Hayes said the Lions had trouble converting easy layups, too.
Edlen Tyler paced Warhill with 18 points while Marcus Brooks and Devonte Dedmon chipped in with 15 apiece. Jeffrey Jordan led Smithfield with 18 points.
#4 Tabb 67 #5 Jamestown 59
Kaleb Mitchell poured in a game-high 24 points and Daniel Schiele added 21 as host Tabb jumped out to an early lead and never looked back to win the always competitive 4-5 matchup over Jamestown Monday. Xavier Green scored 14 points to lead Jamestown while George Williams finished with 12.
Wednesday’s Semifinals:
No. 1 Grafton vs. No. 4 Tabb, Grafton High, 7 p.m.
The Tigers, who lost on a heart-breaking buzzer beater by Elijah Moore in last year’s Region I championship game, were one of few teams in the district this season to hang with the Clippers until the final buzzer. It took two last-second free throws from Joey Miller for Grafton to pull out a one-point win two weeks ago. The rivalry never ceases to disappoint, but Moore and Co. make the Clippers the favorites, especially on their home floor where Grafton has been virtually unbeatable the past three seasons.
No. 2 Bruton vs. No. 3 Warhill, Bruton High, 7 p.m.
Perhaps the most intriguing of the two semifinals, the two sides split the regular-season series 1-1 with Bruton rolling to a 69-52 win early in the season before Warhill rebounded to steal a narrow 57-56 victory in late January.
