John Wall Invitational finale caps long week of basketball for dozens of college commits
Raleigh-based Word Of God played a relatively even first quarter versus Southern California Academy in Thursday’s T.J. Warren Foundation bracket final of the John Wall Holiday Invitational at the Wake Tech North campus. The Holy Rams — seeking their third championship in the event bearing alumnus Wall’s name — fell short, 70-52, against the west coast’s Rams, who dressed just seven players.
Word Of God guard Po’Boigh King retrieved the game’s opening tip and threw down a one-handed slam within the first five seconds. The crowd’s reaction was among the evening’s strongest for Word Of God, which trailed 12-10 after an opening period during which both teams remained within one possession of each other.
“I just think we ran out of gas,” Word Of God coach Byron Williams said.
Word Of God played its fourth Invitational game in as many days.
“Once we got down, we really couldn’t get reenergized,” Williams continued. “As long as I’ve been coaching at Word Of God, my teams always go on runs. We never made a run all night.”
Southern California reserve Oziyah Sellers scored all of his team’s points in an 8-2 run to open the second quarter. Sellers, a University of Southern California commit, netted two 3-pointers and a dunk among the spurt en route to a game high 20 points. Teammate Dior Johnson’s conventional 3-point play widened the margin to 10 with less than two minutes to play before the half, and Southern California widened the lead to 32-20 at the break.
“Whether it was gas or we weren’t getting the foul calls, we just still had to play through it,” Word Of God guard Freddie Dilione said. “Even though we weren’t knocking down shots, we could have just still played through it.”
The 18-point final margin matched Word Of God’s largest game deficit, including 56-38 after the third quarter. Word Of God never pulled closer than 11 after intermission.
King (10 points) and Dilione (16) were thwarted when trying to turn the corner and drive to the basket by Oregon commit Johnson (18) and Amaree Abram (12), both of whom played all 32 minutes. King and Dilione converted 35 percent or fewer field goal attempts, and just one 3-pointer each among 14 combined long-range shots.
Word Of God (12-3) shot just 37.7 percent from the floor. Southern California (12-2) was buoyed by its 45 percent (9-for-20) three-point shooting clip, including 6-for-8 by Sellers.
Word Of God allowed twice as many points off turnovers (25) than the Raleigh school scored (12) off its west coast rival’s miscues.
“Our guys are just so relentless, relentless. It’s our identity. It’s our personality,” Southern California coach Julius von Hanzlik said. “The coaches can get all this credit. But these guys really trust us. They do what they need to do to get it done.”
Both teams had four double figure scorers. Southern California 6-foot-10 pivot man Jaxon Kohler, a Michigan State commit, added 15. Word Of God got 10 points each from Truman Claytor and Jakwon Moore.
“(Southern California) did a good job getting back in the gaps,” Williams said. “But if you look back in the first quarter, we missed six layups. That was the difference.”
Word Of God finished as an Invitational runner up for the fourth time (2008, 2009, 2019). The Raleigh school won its two tournament championships in 2007 (with Wall) and 2012.
This week’s boys results
Monday, Dec. 27
TRINITY ACADEMY (61)-GARNER (46)
ASHEVILLE CHRISTIAN (54)-CALLAWAY(49)
Chris Clemons championship - NORTHSIDE CHRISTIAN (56)-ENLOE (48)
FARMVILLE CENTRAL (72)-GREENFIELD SCHOOL (68)
ARCHBISHOP SPALDING (79)-NORTH MECK (73)
BURLINGTON SCHOOL (75)- BREWSTER ACADEMY (66)
LIFE CHRISTIAN (70)- BROUGHTON (64)
WORD OF GOD (82)-JL CHAMBERS (67)
Tuesday, Dec. 28
NORTHWOOD (61)-CALLAWAY (52)
GREENFIELD (71)-BROUGHTON (51)
NORTH MECK (65)-MILLBROOK (53)
Coby White championship - ASHEVILLE CHRISTIAN (62)-TERRY SANFORD (55)
COMBINE ACADEMY (69)-VIRGINIA EPISCOPAL (57)
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY (70)-W-S CHRISTIAN (56)
MORAVIAN PREP (62)- COLUMBUS (43)
WORD OF GOD (71)-BREWSTER ACADEMY (63)
Wednesday, Dec. 29
BROUGHTON (58)-MILLBROOK (54)
COLUMBUS (68)-WINSTON SALEM CHRISTIAN (65)
NC GOOD, BETTER, BEST ACADEMY (65)-BREWSTER ACADEMY (60)
JL CHAMBERS (58)-VIRGINIA EPISCOPAL (48)
THE BURLINGTON SCHOOL (72)-ARCHBISHOP SPALDING (63)
WORD OF GOD (83)-COMBINE ACADEMY(79)
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (61)-MORAVIAN PREP (56)
Thursday, Dec. 30
LIFE CHRISTIAN (65)-FARMVILLE CENTRAL (60)
WINSTON SALEM CHRISTIAN (82)-VIRGINIA EPISCOPAL (65)
NORTH MECK (59)-GREENFIELD SCHOOL (58)
COLUMBUS (60)-J.L CHAMBERS (58)
ARCHBISHOP SPALDING (89)-FARMVILLE CENTRAL (53)
MORAVIAN PREP (80)-RALEIGH CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (49)
TJ Warren Foundation championship - SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (70)-WORD OF GOD (52)
Devonte Graham championship - THE BURLINGTON SCHOOL (73)-LIFE CHRISTIAN (53)
This week’s girls results
Monday, Dec. 27
GRACE CHRISTIAN (40)- HERITAGE (38)
NORTH PITT (61)-NC GOOD, BETTER BEST (49)
APEX FRIENDSHIP (74)- FARMVILLE CENTRAL (53)
PANTHER CREEK (48)- GARNER (40)
Tuesday, Dec. 28
FARMVILLE CENTRAL (55)- HERITAGE (50)
Semifinal - APEX FRIENDSHIP (48)- NORTH RALEIGH CHRISTIAN (35)
Semifinal - ST. FRANCES ACADEMY (52)- PANTHER CREEK (48)
Wednesday, Dec. 29
GARNER (64)- FARMVILLE CENTRAL (63)
NORTH PITT (45)- HERITAGE (40)
Third-place game - PANTHER CREEK (50)- NORTH RALEIGH CHRISTIAN (45)
Thursday, Dec. 30
Wonderland bracket championship - CANCELLED (COVID)
This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 9:50 AM.