westchester takes second at arkansas tournament

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SoCalHoops Tournament News

Westchester Takes Second At
King Cotton Classic--(Jan 2, 2000)

Our friend Jim Haley, who is heavily involved with the adidas Kingdom USA tournament down in Florida sent us an update on the King Cotton Holiday Classic Championship game played this past Thurdaay in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in which Westchester ended up finishing second to a team from Oklahoma City. Here's the account of the game which Jim forwarded to us, from the local paper, the Pine Bluff Commercial. Here's the report:

McGuinness Holds Off Westchester For Title

By Bill Spinks/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

The luck of the Irish remained in Bishop McGuinness' corner Thursday night in the King Cotton Holiday Classic championship game.

The Oklahoma City team broke open a tight game in the final four minutes, holding off a determined Westchester High squad to take home the 1999 King Cotton title with a 66-54 victory in front of 2,159 fans at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.

McGuinness' Terrence Crawford, an early signee with Oklahoma State, scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, taking home the Most Valuable Player award. But it was the play of teammate J. Robert Merritt that carried the Irish to the top. Merritt scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, with a pair of 3-pointers at crucial times for McGuinness (7-2).

"J. Robert's a fine player, and he means so much to this team," said McGuinness coach Garry Looper after the game. "And Terrence is very deserving of his honor. He's played well all year, and he's a very fine person and a great asset." Westchester tied the game at 47-47 on 7-foot-1 center Chad Bell's follow shot with about five minutes left in the game. But from that point on, McGuinness held the upper hand.

Roshon Baum's free throw gave the Irish a one-point lead, then Crawford rebounded a missed free throw and fed it to Merritt for a wide-open 3. Baum and Merritt each added layups to follow untimely Comet turnovers, and the Irish led by eight.

"Westchester's an excellent ballclub," Looper said. "They've got a lot of young, talented players. We were fortunate to be able to come away with the win."

Baum added 11 points for the Irish, and All-Tournament honoree Jonathan Bluitt contributed eight points and three assists. The Comets (10-5) were paced by All-Tournament team members Keith Everage and Brandon Heath with 15 and 13 points respectively, and sophomore Ashanti Cook also netted 13.

Bishop McGuinness led 14-8 at the close of the first period, but Westchester's Everage got a layup inside, then Ashanti Cook's alley-oop went into the basket untouched for a 3-pointer, tying the game. Everage added another bucket to give the Comets a brief 15-13 lead, but the Irish outscored Westchester 10-3 for the remainder of the first half and took a seven-point margin into the locker room.

But what would a Westchester game be without a second-half rally?

The Comets gradually closed the gap in the third quarter, and finally, with 4:12 to go, center Chad put Westchester in the lead after Brandon Heath's steal. Westchester's run grew to 12 points before the Irish came back to tie it at the end of the period. To start the fourth, Everage's stickback gave the Comets their final lead, 39-37.

Other members of the All-Tournament team included: Brandon Jones of Fordyce; Marc Stringer of White Hall; Reggie Rambo of Peabody Magnet; Kelenna Azubuike of Tulsa Victory Christian; Eric Simmons of Houston Alief-Hastings; and Alton Ford of Houston Milby.

McGuinness has designs on a third straight Oklahoma Class AAAA state title, but Looper said the immediate goal is to win the Irish's own tournament next week.

"We've been holding it for 40 years and we won it for just the first time last year," Looper said. "We certainly have our hopes of winning state again, though."