WEST POINT, Ala. – This year’s West Point Christmas Tournament tipped off at West Point High School Monday afternoon and a pair of local teams are in the field for this year’s event. The Holly Pond Broncos faced off against Priceville in Monday’s opening matchup and fell to the Bulldogs 66-38. Later in the evening, the West Point Warriors took on Hatton and after trailing 27-18 at the half, they outscored the Hornets 44-22 in the second half to pull away with a 62-49 win.
West Point 62 – Hatton 49 (Varsity Boys)
Kanen Trussell got West Point on the scoreboard with a layup less than a minute into the game, but Hatton scored nine straight points to grab a 9-2 lead with less than four minutes to go in the first quarter. Ashton Rodgers drilled a three from the top of the key to end a almost five-minute scoring drought for the Warriors, then he later added a floater to cut the deficit to two at 9-7. Back-to-back baskets down low by the Hornets pushed their lead to 13-7 and the Warriors found themselves down by six going into the second quarter.
Hatton increased their lead to eight to start out the second period, but Sam Wheeler scored five straight points for West Point to cut their deficit to three at 15-12. The Hornets went on another huge run as seven straight points made it a 22-12 game with 3:28 remaining in the first half. Andrew Lynn drilled a three to make it a seven-point game, but that was as close as the Warriors would get the rest of the first half as they went into the locker room down, 27-18.
A Hornet basket down low made it 29-18 to start out the third quarter. A three by Jay Lamar and a Trussell layup cut the Hatton lead to 29-23, then later on, a technical foul was called on one of Hatton’s players and Lynn drilled both free throws to cut it to four at 31-27. A Trussell layup and a Lynn trey made it a 33-32 game with less than four minutes to go in the third quarter. Five straight points by the Hornets gave them a 38-32 lead with a little over two minutes to go, but the Warriors finished the third period strong as a Kanaan Sutter layup gave them a 39-38 lead.
West Point’s momentum carried over into the final period as a pair of Lynn treys and a pair of Wheeler free throws pushed the Warrior lead to 48-38, but five straight points by Hatton cut it to 48-43. The Hornets made it 50-45 with a little over three minutes to go in the game, but Lynn continued his red-hot shooting from long range as he hit his seventh three of the night and Rodgers added one of his own from deep to help increase West Point’s lead to 58-45; the Warriors kept the lead at double-digits the rest of the way as they would go on to defeat Hatton, 62-49, to move on to the next round of the tournament.
Lynn led West Point (5-10) with a game-high 25 points. Rodgers and Wheeler each added 10 points and Trussell ended up with eight points. The Warriors will play again at 6:45 Tuesday night against the winner of the J.B. Pennington-Falkville game.
Priceville 66 – Holly Pond 38 (Varsity Boys)
Sawyer Olinger drilled a three-pointer to give the Broncos an early, 3-1 lead and a couple of baskets in the paint by Christian Couch kept Holly Pond in front 7-6 later in the opening quarter. Priceville was able to pull ahead but another score from Couch in the final seconds of the first cut the lead to 12-9 going into the second.
Nathan Carter knocked down a three at the start of the second quarter to tie things up at 12 but a 14-1 run by the Bulldogs allowed them to build a 26-13 advantage with three minutes left to play in the opening half. Olinger buried another three to make it a 10-point game and Kollin Brown added a three-pointer of his own to make it 31-19 later in the period but another strong finish by Priceville made it a 38-19 game at the halftime break.
Couch split a pair of free throws and Carter drained another three to trim the lead to 48-23 midway through the third. Diego Garcia netted a pair of free throws to put two more points on the board for the Broncos, but they went into the final frame trailing Priceville 49-25.
Garcia knocked down two more from the free throw line at the start of the fourth and Brown hit another three to cut the lead to 53-30 with five minutes to play. Garcia laced two more free throws and Levi Farr scored a basket inside to chip away some of the lead, but Holly Pond ran out of time before it could chip away any more and Priceville held on to win it 66-38.
Brown led the Broncos with nine points in the loss. Couch and Carter each finished with seven and Olinger and Garcia each added six. Holly Pond will be back in action at the West Point Christmas Tournament Tuesday at 3 p.m. to play either Curry or Brewer.
Copyright 2021 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
