Holiday Invitational favorites impress in first round openers

Defending state 4A champion Garner, defending state 3A champion Fayetteville Terry Sanford, Voyager Academy, and Ravenscroft, a two-time Holiday Invitational champion, came away first round winners Saturday in the David West Bracket of the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational at Broughton.

The second round games for winners and losers are Monday, starting with Broughton and Apex at 9 a.m. Also Monday, the John Wall Bracket starts, featuring defending Invitational champion Wesleyan Christian Academy, and other nationally known teams and players, including Kentucky recruits Bam Adebayo with High Point Christian Academy and De'Aaron Fox of Cypress Lake (Katy, Texas). They are ranked 6 and 7 on the ESPN 100 list.

The 12-0 Terry Sanford Bulldogs gave the young Leesville Road squad a lesson on defense in their 61-42 win.

“We've played good teams, and competing with Terry Sanford will only make us better,” said Leesville coach Russ Frazier, who team is 5-5.

“Credit the defense, that has been our trademark,” said Terry Sanford coach Bill Boyette, who coached Cary to a Holiday Invitational win in 1994 before winning the state title three months later. “We also made quite a few shots in the first half that got us off to a good start.”

Justin King and Telligence Johnson scored 16 for the Bulldogs. Jonathan Mebane led Leesville with 9 points and 9 rebounds.

Terry Sanford will face Garner, an 85-63 winner over Panther Creek. The Trojans (10-1) never trailed in the game and were led by Allen Thomas’ five 3-pointers and 26 points and Alex Reed (20 points, 13 rebounds) and Andrew Abrom (15 points, 9 rebounds).

“We had an outstanding second half. This team has had good third quarters,” Garner coach Eddie Gray said.

Panther Creek (6-4) got 22 points from Juan Munoz, and 10 each from Riley Adams and Tyler Smith.

Voyager (12-1) took the suspense out of its 81-65 win over Apex early, bolting to a 22-11 first quarter lead and 40-18 at halftime.

The Vikings got a strong one-two attack from senior team leaders 6-11Virginia recruit Jay Huff and 5-8 point guard Chance Greene, who is also getting college attention.

Huff had a solid 18 points and 13 rebounds while intimidating on defense, and Greene scored 23 with 7 assists.

“Plus we got big games from China Jones (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Nelson White (9 points),”coach Mike Huff said.

For Apex (8-4), Ian Boyd and Eric Field scored 16 and Colin Molden added 12.

“We got some good looks early, but couldn't make the shots,” Apex coach David Neal said. “Defensively, the ball pressure wasn't there, and we didn't do a good job on 30 (Huff). And 11 (Greene) is also a very, very good player.”

Voyager will face Ravenscroft (9-3) Monday. The Ravens, who beat Voyager earlier in the season, led most the way against Broughton and withstood a third quarter Caps rally when Broughton took the lead 38-37 on a steal and basket by Aaron Gottfried. Ravens junior guard Ian DuBose got his team back on track with three timely 3-pointers in the 64-55 win.

“That was a good win for us,” Ravens coach Kevin Billerman said. “Our difficult schedule has prepared us and Broughton played exceptionally well. We're not a big team, but we're skilled and play tough.”

Junior guard Michael Okaura (19), Douglas Elks (15), and DuBose(12) led the Ravens, while Tharon Suggs (21), Gottfried (13), and Will Baldwin (12) topped Broughton.

This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 11:11 AM with the headline "Holiday Invitational favorites impress in first round openers."