by Shawn Nowlin
Approximately 3000 attendees of all ages gathered inside the Berglund Center on January 9 to experience the second annual Winter Classic high school basketball challenge. Last year’s event drew a similar crowd and featured a four game lineup that culminated in the Warriors of Oak Hill Academy defeating Cape Henry 81 – 76 in a double overtime thriller. Several kids from last year – Dwayne Bacon (Florida State), Chris Clarke (Virginia Tech), Terrence Philips (Missouri), Kenny Williams (North Carolina) – have gone on to make immediate impacts at their respective colleges.
This year attendees were treated to five highly entertaining games: William Fleming Lady Colonels vs. Floyd County Girls, Virginia Episcopal (Lynchburg) vs. Greenbrier Christian Academy (Chesapeake) William Fleming vs. Spotswood (Penn Laird, VA), Patrick Henry vs. Greenbrier East (West Virginia) and Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, VA) vs. Paul VI Catholic (Fairfax).
The four Top 25 recruits – VJ King (#17), Sacha Killeya – Jones (#21), Mario Kegler (#24) and Braxton Key (#25) – all showed why they are held in such high regard.
In a recent December matchup it was Floyd County who got the better of the Lady Colonels. The highly anticipated rematch did not disappoint. Physical from the start, both teams combined to score 142 points. Floyd’s best player, Ragan Wiseman scored a game high 23 points but appeared to run out of energy when it mattered most. While the University of Richmond signee made eleven out of 13 free throws, the Lady Colonels countered with five players registering at least 10 points led by game MVP Malurey Bates.
The 6’3 junior showed solid footwork offensively while displaying a good IQ on the defensive end. When Wiseman fouled Bates in the second half she accidently received a blow to the face resulting in a black eye. “Clearly neither team was trying to hurt the other…sometimes when you play physical basketball things like that happen,” said attendee Kim Fletcher.
Heading into the fourth quarter the Lady Colonels trailed by eight points but quickly erased that deficit with an 18 – 4 run. Colonel assistant Ryan Hubbard handled head coaching duties as his brother Ronald Hubbard was serving a suspension after being ejected Friday night in a game against Rockbridge County.
Woody Deans, who coached Patrick Henry to two state championships in 1988 and 1992, played a vital role in putting the event together. “You know people always ask me why am I still involved with high school sports,” he said. “I’m just giving back to the game that was so good to me.”
The second game saw the Gators of Greenbrier Christian Academy lose 84 – 69 to Virginia Episcopal School. An interesting storyline to the game was the head coaches Curtis Staples (VES) and Donald Hunt (GCA) were teammates in the 90s at the University of Virginia. Sacha Killeya – Jones (VES) threw down multiple impressive dunks in route to scoring 24 points. The five star recruit has committed to play college basketball at the University of Kentucky over offers from the Kansas Jayhawks, NC State Wolfpack, Virginia Cavaliers and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Jones is often regarded as the best player in Virginia, it was his Fighting Bishops teammate Justice Kithcart (a Pittsburgh commit) who won game MVP honors after scoring 30 points. Darius Richmond, a 6’4 GCA junior, led his team with 30 points. “Platforms like this give an opportunity for less heralded kids to possibly earn an athletic scholarship,” said one NCAA coach who asked for anonymity. “About six kids caught my eye today so I will certainly be keeping an eye on them throughout the evaluation period.”
This event is more than just a basketball spectacle. “Another important component are the many non-profit organizations and agencies on hand with valuable information,” said Judy Jackson, Berglund planning committee volunteer.
A knee injury kept Spotswood’s best player, Justin Kier from competing in the event. The future George Mason Patriot led Spotswood to the VHLS Group 3A championship game last year and many feel that had he played on Saturday Fleming would have lost by double digits. Early on it looked as if Spotswood was going to win without him. By halftime Fleming had committed over a dozen unforced turnovers, was shooting a poor percentage from the field and seemed to be lacking effort. Behind the play of game Fleming’s MVP Tyrell Adams was able to narrowly escape with the 62 – 56 victory.
“Some of these kids have the potential to make it to the NBA,” said Roanoke native Jaime English. “If they make it to that level it will be cool to be able to say I saw them when they were just high school students.”
Arguably the events second most exciting game was the fourth contest on the ticket. While both teams played hard, it was the Patriots 44 – 36 rebounding advantage that led them to the 56 – 52 victory.
Karim Ezzedine, a generously listed 6’9 senior, was highly effective in the first half scoring 10 points but managed to score just three more points after the intermission break largely in part to PH’s collective defensive efforts. Ezzedine and senior teammate Caleb Ward (16pts) accounted for 56% of their team points. Game MVP Andrew Harris (17pts) and Dominique Joyce (15pts) accounted for 57% of Patrick Henry’s points.
For the second time in as many years Oak Hill Academy headlined the event. Since losing to South Carolina Prep School 22ft Academy back in November, Oak Hill won 17 consecutive games. This year’s Warriors roster is once again loaded with elite talent from all over the country. Unfortunately the consensus top prep player in the country Harry Giles tore his ACL in November forcing him to miss the rest of his senior year of high school. The Duke commit is currently rehabbing in Durham and is expected to make a full recovery. Steve Smith, who has coached some of the best players in the NBA such as Kevin Durant and Tywon Lawson, has often said, “Harry Giles has a chance to be the greatest player to ever wear an Oak Hill uniform.”
Even without Giles the Warriors managed to beat their nationally ranked opponent Paul VI Catholic by 24 points. Although the game was a blowout the highly anticipated matchup between VJ King (24 points) and Mario Kegler (18pts) did not disappoint. Saturday’s victory pushed Coach Smith’s record at Oak Hill to an unprecedented 1002 victories to just 65 losses in over three decades.
“My goal continues to be to get people exited that we are going to be playing some good high school basketball again at Berglund Center. We want to continue our community involvement,” said the elder Lea. Added the younger Lea, “from the service aspect, non profits will be highlighted via game exposure. Everyone wins regardless of how many baskets are scored.”
