It was another exciting Christmas Tournament finish at Mountaineer Arena this past weekend.
For the second year in a row, the James Monroe Mavericks, W.Va., walked away with the tournament championship trophy.
At last years Mountaineer Invitational the Mav’s held off a fourth quarter rally by the Mountaineers to win the MIT championship 57-48.
On Saturday night, in a rematch from their MIT meeting last year, the two schools met in the 2022 Boo Boo Whitehead Christmas Tournament championship presented by Highlands Bank, where it was the Mav’s this time who rallied in regulation to force overtime and completed the comeback victory by defeating the Mountaineers 78-71.
After defeating their cross-town rival Covington Cougars on Friday night in the second semifinals, the Mountaineers on Saturday night left it all on the court and nearly pulled off the upset of the Mav’s who were the reigning West Virginia Class A State Champions, and also entered the game riding a 32-game win streak.
The Mav’s who made it to the tournament championship by defeating the Boys Home Hilltoppers, led for the majority of the game against the Mountaineers and even opened up the game leading by 10 points in the first quarter 14-4.
The Mountaineers wouldn’t go away though as the team began chipping away at the deficit in the second quarter down to a five point game following an Anthony Webb three-pointer.
Despite cutting into the deficit, the Mav’s would build their lead back up to nine points, but in the final two minutes of the half following a pair of Eli Entsminger free throws, the Mountaineers found themselves down only two points with under a minute remaining.
The Mav’s would close the half out scoring on their final two trips down the court to build a 36-30 lead.
Minutes into the second half, the Mav’s rebuilt a double digit lead at 42-32.
After Davien Moore knocked in one of two free throws, the Mav’s looking to extender their lead, drove down the court and had their layup get blocked by Webb, which led to an Entsminger layup to cut the lead down seven points at 42-35.
It was the spark the Mountaineers needed.
In a span of five minutes, the Mountaineers went on a 13-3 scoring run to tie the game at 45-45, highlighted by Chris Harden’s game-tying layup with 1:26 left in the third quarter.
After missed pair of free throws from the Mav’s the Mountaineers had a chance at their first lead, but Entsminger’s jumper was just off the mark.
Needing a basket to find their groove, Owen Jackson knocked down a big three-pointer for the Mav’s as the retook the lead at 48-45.
The Mav’s took a 50-47 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the opening minute of the fourth, Xzavier Hayslett had a big offensive rebound that led to a Halen Lowman game-tying three-pointer.
Lowman’s three-pointer sparker a Mountaineer 9-0 scoring run as the team built a 56-50 lead. Hayslett put the Mountaineers ahead 52-50 with a driving layup.
After seeing their lead and a ton of shots miss the mark, Eli Allen, was fouled while driving to the lane. He knocked down both free throws to cut the lead down to four points.
Just as the Mav’s thought they found that spark, Entsminger on the Mountaineers next trip down the court found a cutting Webb to the basket as he knocked in an open layup which extended the teams lead back to six points with just over five minutes remaining.
After a span of two minutes in which saw both teams miss opportunities at extending the lead or cutting into the lead due to miss shots and a pair of turnovers each, Josh Burks would knocked down a pair of jump shots to close the gap to two points for the Mav’s at 58-56.
Once again just as the Mav’s closed that gap, the Mountaineers found a way to halt those plans. Following Burks basket that cut the lead down to two points, Moore took the inbounds pass and caught the Mav’s defense sleeping as it went down to play defense, this allowed Moore to find an open Harden who drove to the lane and was fouled as he made his layup. The Mav’s fans and bench looking for a offensive foul did not get the call. Harden would complete the three-point play to give the Mountaineers a 61-56 lead with just over three minutes left.
Down five points, Allen would knock down the first of two free throws, with his second missing and while trying to get the rebound, the ball went out of bounds and off of the Mountaineers. On the inbounds play, Cooper Ridgeway cut to the hoop and made a layup while being fouled. He did not complete the three-point play, but the Mav’s were now down just two points at 61-59.
After trading baskets and free throws, Collin Fox with under two minutes left drove to the hoop and knocked in a short jumper to tie the game at 64-64.
With just over a minute remaining, the Mountaineers retook the lead at 66-64 after Webb drove to the hoop and hit a tough jumper with a defenders hand in his face.
Leading by one point 67-65 after the two teams traded a free throw each, Fox off a miss with five seconds left, rebounded the ball and put it back up and in the basket with just two seconds left in the game.
Following a timeout, the Mountaineers had a chance to win it in regulation, but Lowman’s three-pointer was off the mark which forced overtime.
In overtime, the Mav’s defense stepped up and prevented the Mountaineers any room with tough defense. Fox put in a few baskets and free throws for the Mav’s, while Jackson did as well as the Mav’s outscored the Mountaineers 11-4 in overtime.
The Mountaineers were led by Entsminger who put together a season and team-high 24 points. Meanwhile, Webb had 17, while Harden added 13.
For the tournament champions, the Mav’s were led by Fox who dropped in a game-high 26 points and was named tournament MVP. Burks added 12 for the Mav’s, while Allen and Ridgeway each had 11.
The all-tournament team included, Allen and Fox from the Mav’s, Entsminger from the Mountaineers, Akon Deng from the Hilltoppers, and Purcel Turner from the Cougars.
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Boo Boo Whitehead Christmas Tournament Championship Game
Mountaineers vs Mavericks
Team 1 2 3 4 OT
AHS 19 17 14 17 11
JMHS 11 19 17 20 4
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The Cougars (4-1) were victorious in the third place/consolation game as they defeated the Hilltoppers 58-36 (2-7).
Turner recorded a double-double for the Cougars as he put together a 12 point, 10 rebound game. Meanwhile, Deng, also had a double-double performance with 13 points and 212 rebounds.
It was the second win of the season for the Cougars over the Hilltoppers.
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Boo Boo Whitehead Christmas Tournament
Friday, December 16
Semifinal Game 1
James Monroe, W.Va. 71
Boys Home 42
Semifinal Game 2
Alleghany 58
Cougars 31
Consolation/Third Place Game
Cougars 58
Hilltoppers 36
Championship Game
Mavericks 78
Mountaineers 71
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The JV Christmas Tournament was won by the Mountaineers for the second year in a row. The Mountaineers defeated the Mavericks 55-23.
Representing the Mountaineers, Mason Hale, was named the tournament MVP. Meanwhile Bubby Entsminger from the Mountaineers was also named to the JV all-tournament team, as were Bannon Goodmore from the Mav’s, Aaron Smith with the Cougars, and Ben Lawson from the James River Knights
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