2020 Tournament of Champions: Day one recap
Day one of the 2020 Bass Pro Tournament of Champions featured good games and impressive individual performances.
With night one in the books, fans have a good idea going forward of what these big-time hoopers are capable of. For the most part, players we had highlighted previously stood out as expected, but witnessed the potential of others as well.
In the opening game, Vashon beat down Christ the King in surprising fashion 69-33. Ryan Myers led CtK with 12 and struggled a bit with his shot. For Vashon, Phillip Russell stood out, scoring 20 with 6 of 9 shooting from deep. Cam’Ron Fletcher was as-advertised, flashing explosiveness at the rim and finishing with a 21 point, 13 rebound double-double.
The second game of the night was much closer throughout, but a big run to finish things out made the score appear lopsided. Oak Hill Academy, currently ranked number three in the nation, defeated the hometown Kickapoo Chiefs 78-63.
Oak Hill had a balanced attack, with efficient nights from Ezewiro, Sibley, Robinson, and Maddox. Cam Thomas was the high man with 26 points. For Kickapoo, Anton Brookshire was scoring at will, hitting 7 of 12 from deep and finishing with 33 points and seven boards.
The third game was entertaining if not always competitive. Paul VI downed Greenwood 80-54 behind 25 points from Duke commit, Jeremy Roach. Steals were the name of the game for Paul VI, as they amassed 19 on the night. Despite some timely long balls by Tommy Pinegar and nifty ball-handling by Grant Harper, it was the Aminu Mohammed show for Greenwood as usual. Mohammed had 31 points and 16 boards, but 11 turnovers to go with it.
Finally, Booker T Washington vs. Greensboro Day provided a close match start-to-finish. Both teams shot around 35 percent and bricked plenty of threes. Still, it was down to the wire with Booker T Washington finishing on top 54-50.
Kansas commit, Bryce Thompson was the driving force for Booker T Washington, scoring 31 big points to go with 10 boards. His teammate and Oklahoma commit, Trey Phipps shot just 1-13 on the night, so we are expecting a bounce-back performance this evening. Greensboro Day is was without Virginia signee, Carson McCorkle, who was recently injured. They leaned on Cam Hayes (14) and freshman Jaydon Young (15) to do the scoring in this one.
Tonight’s (Friday, Jan 17th) action will surely be thrilling once again and we can’t wait to break down the happenings for you.
4:30 Kickapoo vs. Christ the King
6:00 Greenwood vs. Greensboro Day
8:00 Vashon vs. Oak Hill
9:30 Paul VI vs. Booker T Washington
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