TMSAA Region 1-A boys basketball tournament tips off
Published 12:24 am Tuesday, January 28, 2020
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StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
Unaka’s Jacob Nidiffer (22) drives into traffic, trying to draw the contact, and hits this runner in the second quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Rangers Aiden Peterson (50) delivers a deep three-ball from the corner in the second quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Rangers Logan Lewis (5) blows past a couple of Providence defenders on his way to hitting a layup in the first quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Tigers Mason Wilson (12) drains back-to-back threes from the corner on consecutive inbound plays.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
Hunter big man Marcus Shomaker (25) moves cross lane on the Jr Buc and hits a runner in the paint.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
Keenburg’s Aiden Gross (5) steals the ball at mid-court and races to the hole for two.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Tigers Travis Smalls (00) traps Cloudland’s Eli Morgan (4) on the end line and causes him to dribble the ball off his foot and out of bounds for a turnover.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
These four players were named to the All-District team for the regular season. From the left Providence’s Cross Chadwick (45) Josh Marmo (24). From Unaka Elementary Kaiden Benway (3) and TJ Thomas (0).
BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
Hampton – After an exciting evening of middle school girls action on Thursday, it was time for the boys to hit the hardwood for the start of the TMSAA Region 1-A boys tournament on Friday at Hampton Elementary School.
The University School Buccaneers and the Hunter Tigers were the two teams who would kick things off in Friday’s flurry of matchups.
The game between the two started out as a back and forth contest with both teams scoring right after their opponents would hit a basket. But eventually, the Bucs would pull away and take a 24-17 edge going into the break.
While the Tigers were able to start a comeback effort in the second half, the Buccaneer lead was too much to overcome as University School would advance, 55-34.
Braden Williams and Ander Cole led the Buccaneers with 17 points apiece while AJ Murphy scored eight in the win.
For the Tigers, Hunter Stevens scored 17 points and was followed by Marcus Shomaker with seven in the effort.
The second game of the night featured the Knights of Providence Academy and the Unaka Rangers.
The Knights came out of the gate blazing hot and because of that, Providence took a 13-point lead into the break, 28-15.
While the Rangers were able to trim the deficit in the third quarter, the Providence offense kept on rolling as the Knights advanced, 42-33.
The Knights were led in the scoring column by Cross Chadwick with 11 points while both Merrit Runnels and Josh Marmo followed closely with 10.
In the loss, Kaiden Benway led the Rangers with 11 points, while Logan Lewis and Jacob Nidiffer scored seven and six points respectively.
The final contest of the night was between the number four-seed Cloudland Highlanders and the number five-seed Keenburg Tigers.
The Tigers came out rolling on both sides of the court and were able to take a 13-7 advantage going into the second half.
In the final half, Cloudland had trimmed the lead to just three points, but the Tigers couldn’t be stopped as Keenburg punched their ticket to the semifinal game, 34-29.
Travis Smalls let Keenburg with 10 points in the game followed by Isaiah Linberg with nine.
In the effort for Cloudland, Dylan Mcclellan finished with 11, while Hayden Arnett put up five in the contest.
Regular season awards were given out after each game to award players who excelled during the season. These players included:
Providence – Cross Chadwick & Josh Marmo
Keenburg – Noah Gill & Isaiah Linberg
Central – Sidney Hoilman
University School – Braden Williams & Andrew Cole
Little Milligan – Tuff Robinson
Unaka – Kaiden Benway & TJ Thomas
Hunter – Marcus Shomaker
Cloudland – Eli Morgan
Player of the Year – AJ Murphy (University School)
