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State Farm Tournament of Champions Friday Night Games

 The opening game of the evening session was one of the best of the day as it was close from start to finish, as Tilton School from New Hampshire went up against Sunrise Academy from Bel Air, KS. It was close early as Tilton led 11-6 at the end of the opening stanza after Georges Niang finished with a 4-0 run in the final minute of the quarter. Tilton extended their lead to seven, 15-8, before Sunrise’s Buddy Hield led a 10-3 run to close the gap to two, 18-16 with 1:20 to play in the half. But, again Niang found a way to get to the hoop in the final seconds and put Tilton back up four 22-18 at the break.  The third quarter belonged to Tilton as Nerlens Noel blocked two straight shots that turned into baskets in transition to start a 10-3 burst for Tilton that put them up 36-27 at the end of three quarters. The early part of the fourth quarter was all Sunrise as they closed to within three, 40-37, behind Hield and 5-10 sophomore guard Louravis Nairn.  But, once again Georges Niang took over scoring six of the next seven points to give Tilton a 47-42 victory over Sunrise Christian.

Tilton was led by Georges Niang with 18 points and 8 boards, while Nerlens Noel added 10 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.  Sunrise’s top gun was led by Buddy Hield with 20 points, while sophomore point Louravis Nairn chipped in with 12 points and handed out 6 assists.

Game two was over early as the Indianapolis, IN Park Tudor squad ran out to a 19-6 first quarter lead, then coasted to an 82-39 victory over Gallatin County. Park Tudor was led by Yogi Farrell with 19 points, while 6-4 Paul Bayt and Trevon Bluiett who had 15 points each and 6-3 sophomore Troy Spears who chipped in with 13 points in the win. Gallatin County was led by 6-11 Andrew Drone with 16 points and 5-9 Bryant Aud who added 12 points in the loss.

Game three will feature two athletic prep school squads in Huntington, WV Prep and Houston, TX Trent International School. Huntington jumped out to a quick 9-1 lead behind Missouri signee Stefan Jankovic just two minutes into the contest. But, Trent finally got their feet under them and pulled to within seven 14-7 the end of the opening stanza. Trent went on a 7-2 run to open the second period, behind 6-5 Justin McCray and 6-9 junior Ahmed Hamdy, to pull to within two, 16-14 with 5:16 to play in the half. But, Huntington Prep went on a 12-4 run, as Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored six points, to close the half with a 28-18 margin over Trent International. Huntington opened the second half with two deep threes from Negus Webster-Chan to push their lead to 34-18 over Trent with 6:45 to play in the third quarter. Huntington increased the lead to twenty-38-18 before Trent’s Mike Lyle stopped the bleeding with a run out dunk! Trent cut the lead to 15, 44-27, but Huntington scored the final four points of the third to go back up 50-30 heading into the final period.  But, Trent wasn’t able to make a challenge as Huntington coasted to a 79-41 victory over Trent International.

Huntington was led by 6-6 sophomore Andrew Wiggins (pictured above) with 21 points (16 second half) and 10 boards, while Negus Webster-Chan added 15 points and grabbed 10 caroms too, and Stefan Jankovic chipped in with 12 points in the win. Trent was led by Ahmed Hamdy who finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds, he was the only Trent player in double figures.

The nightcap between the host squad Washington High and Montgomery, AL Carver was a cat and mouse affair, as Washington went to a spread court slow down to pull Carver out of the zone. It was 8-all at the end of the opening stanza. The host Panthers opened up a four point lead on back to back lay-ins by 6-5 Ben Ryan to go up 12-8 over Carver, the two clubs exchanged baskets or free throws to head to the locker room with Washington in the lead 21-16 at the intermission.

The second half opened with Carver quickly knotting it up at 21-all on three straight free throws by Craig Sword, But Washington bounced back to run off seven straight behind the play of Alec Peters to go up 28-21 over Carver. After a timeout, Carver scored five straight to close to within two, 28-26, with 4:06 to play in the third. Washington held a five point lead heading into final minute, before 6-6 Jeremy Johnson knocked down back to back threes to give Carver a 37-36 lead heading into the final period.  Carver opened the fourth with a drive by Jeremy Johnson to open their biggest lead of the second half, 39-36, over the host team. But the Panthers came back on back-to-back baskets by 6-3 Troy Adams to go back in the lead 40-39 with 1:08 to play. On the inbounds, Carver missed a three, then fouled in frustration. Ben Ryan who had struggled earlier in the game knocked them down to give Washington a 42-39 lead. Carver scored quickly on a lay-in by troy Armstrong to cut it to one, 42-41 with 34-seconds to play.  Ryan was fouled again, and made one of two, to give Washington a 43-41 lead with 15-seconds to go in the game. Carver in-bounded the ball and Craig Sword knocked down a deep three at the buzzer to give Carver a hard fought 44-43 victory over the host squad.

Carver was led by Craig Sword with 19 points including the game winner at the buzzer, he got solid support from Jeremy Johnson who finished with 15 points. Washington was led by Alec Peters, Ben Ryan, and Troy Adams who all finished with 13 points each in this tough loss.

We will bring you more of the action and top performers at the 2011 State Farm Tournament of Champions, tomorrow, right here at Hot100Hoops.com.