WEST POINT – Good guard play from Brandon Farley and Kolton Sapp was the key for the West Point Warriors to snap a nine-game losing streak, defeating the Danville Hawks 61-32 Monday night in the opening round of the 24th annual West Point Christmas Tournament.
The starting backcourt came out on fire, sending the Warriors to a 10-2 lead and never allowed Danville to make a game of it at Jim Boyd Gymnasium.
It had been a month since the Warriors enjoyed the winning side. On the night after Christmas, they enjoyed it once again and now advance to the semifinal round.
By the end of the first quarter, the Warriors led 18-9 with Sapp scoring eight on a couple of treys and Farley having five with one trey.
A bright spot for Randy Jones' Warriors in the second was the play of Austin Dubberly off the bench. Dubberly scored the final two baskets for the Warriors, including a baseline jumper from the right side as time expired to put them up at the break 28-18.
The third quarter was the dominant one for the Warriors, with a 19-6 spurt with Sapp getting five points and a trey from Colby Sullins before time ran out to extend the comfortable advantage to 47-24.
A basket from Michael Keller with 2:01 to play made the score 61-30 as the Warriors got the hot clock in operation, ahead by more than 30 points.
Farley finished with 14 for the Warriors in their fourth win of the season, Sapp accounted for 13, Sullins netted 12, Dubberly had 10 off the bench, Toby Cunningham scored five, Rylan Jones three and Keller and Alex Hernandez two each.
Danville fell to 3-9. Leading the Hawks was Payton Shelton with 14 points.
Priceville 56, Cold Springs 39:
The evening began with Cold Springs having a tough time after keeping it close with Priceville for one quarter, trailing 9-7.
The Eagles looked at a 27-19 deficit at the half and watched the Bulldogs score 10 straight in the third period to open up a 40-24 advantage.
Cold Springs never recovered, trailing 48-31 when the quarter ended.
The Eagles lost their third straight and dropped to 6-6 overall. Hunter McClendon paced the Eagles with 10, Eli Hamby had nine, Blake Wood six, Fisher Willoughby and Jesse Lee five each and Mason Harris four.
For the Bulldogs, they got 14 from Andrew Hester, 11 by Dylan Cross and seven from Aubrey Richardson. Priceville is now 5-8 on the season.
Brewer 69, Curry 49:
Brewer's offense sputtered early with the Patriots scoring nine in the first quarter. The Patriots clung to a 20-18 lead over the upset-minded Yellow Jackets when the game reached intermission.
Then the Patriots took control by blowing by the Jackets 49-31 in the second half, using a 25-15 run in the third quarter that increased the lead to 45-33.
Parker Barrett's 17 points and Preston Ryan's 11 guided the Patriots to their 12th victory of the season and fifth in a row.
Payton Key delivered 16 with Zach Woodard scoring eight for the Yellow Jackets who fell to 1-12 overall.
Corner 55, Decatur Heritage 48:
A see-saw battle between these two closed out day one as Corner finished the third period on a 9-0 run and moved in front of Decatur Heritage 39-32.
Decatur Heritage hung around, but the Yellow Jackets made 6-of-9 from the line in the final 1:15 to keep the Eagles at arm’s length and go to the semifinals with a 10-4 record.
Sam Knowlton led a balanced Corner squad with 10, Skylar Morrow collected eight.
Decatur Heritage lost its third in a row and fell to 10-3. Walker Jones led the Eagles with 13 while Grayson Wakefield scored seven.
The schedule for Tuesday has Cold Springs playing Curry at 4 p.m., Danville vs. Decatur Heritage 5:15 p.m., West Point vs. Corner 6:45 p.m. and Brewer vs. Priceville 8 p.m.
The finals are set for Thursday.
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