2019 ARBY’S CLASSIC Staying Alive… Hampton clips Falcons wings to play another day, 58-56
Published 12:41 am Tuesday, December 31, 2019
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton's Conor Jones takes the basketball to the rim in the Bulldogs contest against the Falcons.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton's Jordan Bentley goes up for a tough shot around a Tabernacle Baptist defender.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton's Conor Jones drives around a Falcon defender in the Bulldogs win at the Arby's Classic.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton's Matt Hughes prepares to fire up a three in front of Tabernacle's bench.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton's Morgan Lyons goes under and up for a reverse layup against the Falcons.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
BRISTOL – The Hampton Bulldogs did what any good team does and that is learning from the previous game the importance of getting off to a good start if you want to stay around for another day in a tournament like the Arby’s Classic.
Coach Ned Smith’s team did just that to stay alive and advanced to this morning’s Consolation final against Tennessee High by ending the Tabernacle Baptist Falcons playing time at the Arby’s Classic with a 58-56 win.
It took all the Bulldogs had to advance as Hampton had a chance to push the lead out going to the foul line six times in the final 25 seconds and hitting only one of the six attempts to bring sweat beads to the Hampton faithful foreheads.
“We got it to our best shooter and I thought our legs were tired from where we had to play a bigger, stronger team yesterday,” Smith said. “I think it kind of wore us down and we were right on target hitting the front of the rim.”
The Bulldogs came out and established a 17-13 lead at the end of the first horn and built that to a 32-26 advantage at the break.
However, the Falcons from the Grand Bahama Island are accustomed to adversity having to survive a devasting hurricane and they weren’t about to run and hide.
The Falcons came out of the locker room and trimmed the ‘Dogs lead to a slim 48-46 edge heading into the final period.
Both teams played at a high level defensively in the final eight minutes as both scored only 10 points apiece in the quarter as Hampton managed to stave off the Falcons attack down the stretch.
As he did in game one, Jordan Bentley took the lead offensively as the senior racked up 20 points in the contest with a 3-of-6 shooting performance from beyond the arc.
Conor Jones added eight points, Morgan Lyons a tough seven points, and Caleb Oaks and Matt Hughes contributed with six points apiece in the win.
Rocky Croy and Izaak Hill logged four points apiece while Garrett Vines dropped in a trey for three points.
Jones was the human floor mop on for the contest laying out his body much like he did on the football field for loose basketballs throughout the contest.
“The competition in this Arby’s Classic is something different I tell you,” said Jones after the contest. “You don’t see a lot of size like that unless you go down the road to the state tournament.
“It’s good for us to get ready especially in the atmosphere we are playing in right now. After the day we had yesterday it was big for us to come out knock down the shots like we did today gave us a lot of confidence.
“Going against big guys like that shows that we want to win and all glory to God for that.”
Jarret Hall and Raymond Clarke scored 11 points to lead Tabernacle in the loss while Isaiah Braynen totaled nine points.
