Chargers’ Christmas Classic drought is over
By Tom Ham Special to the Times
Head coach Kevin Zander hints the colorful Pac-Man Christmas jacket may be destined for retirement. The championship drought is finally over.
The first victory for a Wilson Christian Academy varsity boys basketball team in the school’s Charger Christmas Classic tournament resulted Saturday afternoon in the holiday event’s 20th year with a 48-37 conquest of Alamance Christian.
Alamance scored the first basket but, from that point, Zander’s Chargers never trailed again in seizing the title in his fifth season as head coach.
The Chargers, for the second straight game, were sparked by 5-foot-11 junior Briceson Martin, who poured in a tournament high 26 points in the final and was proclaimed the most valuable player. Martin fired in 42 points in the two games as Wilson Christian upped its record to 3-4.
“I thought about winning (MVP),” Martin acknowledged, “but I thought a lot more about the team winning the tournament. This is the first time we have ever won our Christmas Classic. Coach Zander was happy about it.”
“Twenty years in the making,”Zander, clad in the Pac-Man Christmas jacket for the second straight day, exclaimed. “This feels tremendous. We host it every year and it’s great for the host team to finally come away with it.”
With Martin the only player to score in double digits, the Chargers captured the battle of defenses – WCA’s man-to-man and 1-3-1 against the Warriors’ man-to-man.
“It’s absolutely a credit to the defense,” said Zander, who hoped the jacket would be good luck in the bid to win the Classic. “When you hold Alamance to 15 points in a half, that’s good defense.
“Starting out, we were having a little difficulty with their flex offense because they run it so well.. But we switched to the 1-3-1 zone. Then, in the second half, we went back to the man-to-man. We wanted to keep mixing it up.”
“Their 1-3-1 zone hurt us more than anything,” responded Alamance head coach Jerry Bailey.
“We were without our post player (injured in Friday’s semifinals win) and we had a really difficult time getting the ball inside. With the adjustments we had to make, our kids adjusted as best as they could.”
Martin and company fought to a 9-8 lead after one quarter and upped the advantage to 21-15 at intermission. WCA followers were beginning to sense “finally, this could be the day.”
Martin got help from junior Zay Joyner in boosting WCA’s lead to 27-18. Two more field goals from Martin upped the cushion to 31-20. Then, Martin dribbled the basketball to the Chargers’ end of the court and drained a 3-point shot at the buzzer. WCA moved out front 34-23.
The Warriors (6-2) drew no closer than seven points the rest of the way. WCA sealed the championship with a three-point play from Martin, a basket inside from senior Carter Zander and another bucket from Martin for the Chargers’ biggest lead of 44-27.
Reserves finished the contest.
“The Lord gave us a toughness tonight to play defense,” Coach Zander said. “We were very, very good in the half-court. We eliminated any transition.”
The Chargers committed just five turnovers and handed out 10 assists. Rebounds totaled 18, led by senior Seth Quinn with five. Seniors Turner Provo and Will Clark each had three assists. WCA shot for 50% accuracy (18 of 36) on 2-point attempts and 2 of 8 from long range. Joyner and Carter Zander helped out with seven and six points, respectively.
“They’re well coached,” Alamance’s Bailey commented of the Chargers. “We come to this about every year and it’s one of the highlights.”
The Warriors were paced by freshman Holden Yakola with 14 points and junior Luke Varga with nine.
Coach Zander noted Martin shook off a shaky start.
“They put a box-and-one on him,” Coach Zander explained. “We were able to free him up in the second quarter and, from there, it was lights out.”
Martin indicated early frustration, remarking to his teammates: “If I don’t get the ball, you’ve got to take over.”
But, eventually, the Warriors couldn’t stop Martin from possessing the ball.
“Our defense just had to shut them down in the second half. We just kept switching it up,” Martin noted.
Of the MVP accolade, Martin responded: “It feels good, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
The MVP headed the all-tournament team that included teammates Zay Joyner and Titus Batts as well as the Alamance duo of Yakola and Varga and Arby Bell of Faith Christian.
ALAMANCE CHRISTIAN (37)
Brown 3, Varga 9, Crutchfield 3, LaTour 4,Yakola 14, Cursinger 4, Van Nostrund, Moum, Oakley.
WILSON CHRISTIAN (48)
Evans, Trull, S. Joyner 7, Provo 3, Batts 2, Se. Quinn 2, Si. Quinn, B. Joyner, Martin 26, Zander 6, Clark 2, Ricks.
Score by quarters:
Alamance 8 7 8 14 — 37
WCA 9 12 13 14 — 48
