Blog - 11th Annual VaPreps Classic Session 1

Greetings from Green Run High School in Virginia Beach for Session 1 of the 11th Annual VirginiaPreps.com Basketball Classic.

Below, you can find tweets, stats, observations from the media covering the games and more throughout the day of the Classic.

Here are the Final Scores with links to Stat Box Scores ...

Princess Anne 48, Portsmouth Christian 47
Norfolk Academy 49, Grafton 33
Churchland 58, Cape Henry 51
Oscar Smith 76, Menchville 69
Green Run 75, Woodside 45

An absolutely terrific day, all things considered with how hectic it was in the 24-48 hours leading up to Saturday We thank all of the fans that came out to the event and continue to support the event, the state's longest and premier basketball showcase for 11 years running.

We're not done yet either. Make-up games are being worked on and we will have another full slate of games at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake on Saturday, January 26th.

For those wondering about that lineup, it'll look like this...

12 Noon - Bethel vs. James Monroe
1:40 PM - Tallwood vs. Thomas Edison
3:20 PM - Nansemond River vs. Wilson
5:00 PM - Green Run vs. Western Albemarle
6:40 PM - Norcom vs. Varina
8:20 PM - Oscar Smith vs. Wakefield

Of course, we have to note that the slate is subject to change due to weather. We went the first seven years with no weather issues before running into schedule changes because of Mother Nature in three of the past four years.

The Stallions improved to 12-3 overall with a convincing 75-45 win over Woodside in a game where they led by as many as 38 points and got up 18-4 right out of the shoot.

Ashley James is your MVP with an efficient, sterling performance - 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting, seven rebounds, six assists, no turnovers and a couple of steals. Sophomore guard Jacob Cooper handed out 10 assists with just one turnover and collected six steals in 22 minutes of play. Adrick Gill and Bruce Griffin tallied 10 points apiece off the bench. In fact, Green Run's reserves outscored Woodside's 34-8.

For Woodside in defeat as the Wolverines dropped to 8-6 overall, Mikell Boyd recorded a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds.

Final Stats from Oscar Smith 76, Menchville 69 via StatVA Here

What jumps out immediately is the hot shooting of Oscar Smith - a ridiculous 8-of-10 from three-point range (80%) in the first half, and for the game, they were 10-for-16 behind the arc (62.5%). Three different players scored in double-figures for Oscar Smith, including subs Karl Chavis with 18 points and freshman Kenyon Giles with 16 points.

Chavis earned MVP honors as he also grabbed 13 rebounds, converted 8-of-11 from the floor and had a couple of blocks in his 23 minutes of action.

A great performance from the Churchland wings and forwards against a Cape Henry team that never led. The Truckers were led by the 24 points from MVP Shareef Bynum and 20 points courtesy of Anthony Davis. In the front-court, Davon Brown grabbed 11 rebounds to support them.

In the loss, Cape Henry forward Dajour Rucker had 27 points on 11-of-30 shooting from the field. Rucker played all 32 minutes and the Marshall signee grabbed 19 rebounds - tying the VaPreps Classic record set by Phoebus forward Detionne Leach, who had 19 rebounds in an overtime loss to Loudoun Valley last year at Green Run.

Check that, it's now 54-48 as Cape Henry is on the comeback trail. They're going to need to get some stops and hope the Truckers fail to convert at the foul line to get it even up though.

Cape Henry was 0-for-6 from three-point range and truth be told the main reason they are as close as they are is the fact they own a 25-20 rebounding advantage.

Anthony Davis has 13 points and Shareef Bynum has chipped in 11 for the Truckers.

Marshall signee Dajour Rucker leads the way with 8 points and 9 boards for Cape Henry. But he needs more help from the supporting cast around him to make a comeback.

The marquee prospect in this event - Mark Williams - of Norfolk Academy did not disappoint as he showed improved agility, mobility and timing on his shot-blocking along with shot-altering defensively. It's no one-man band for Eric Acra's Bulldogs either. Neil Malik had 11 points and Jabril Lewis chipped in 10 points. As a team, they were a perfect 3-of-3 on three-point shots and shot 51.5% from the field for the contest.

Grafton got solid efforts from Brandon Bomboy and Terry White with 12 and 10 points, respectively. But the Clippers went through some long scoring droughts, beginning the game with only two points in the opening period, and then after heating up with four treys in the second quarter, they were 0-for-7 from three-point territory over the game's final 16 minutes.

Norfolk Academy moves to 12-2 overall with the win, while Grafton falls to 11-3 overall.

Not the best combination for Grafton with only six points in the paint for the game and going 0-for-7 from three-point land in the second half as Norfolk Academy closed on an 18-6 run to pull away from a Clippers team that should be a factor in the Region 4A playoffs come February.

A really strong performance at both ends of the floor from Mark Williams who is only scratching the surface of his big-time potential.

Totally agree with J.Watford. Williams has shown better timing off the floor and he's really starting to blossom before our eyes as a prospect that could be considered for five-star status by Rivals when the spring rolls around.

Towering big man Mark Williams has gone to the bench in this second quarter and Grafton has cut into the lead as the Bulldogs are only up 11-10 with just over three minutes before the break. Grafton is really digging in well defensively, and without Williams, the Bulldogs are struggling to get inside scoring.

A backdoor cut allows Jabril Lewis to score and push Norfolk Academy's lead to 13-10 with 2:22 till intermission.

A couple of 10-2 teams are set to go at it with Jeremy Jordan's Grafton Clippers from the Bay Rivers District in Yorktown and Eric Acra's Norfolk Academy Bulldogs out of the TCIS.

The main attraction in this game is 7-foot-tall junior Mark Williams, who is one of the nation's top prospects in the Class of 2020.

A little fun fact - his sister, Elizabeth Williams of the WNBA and former All-American at Princess Anne High that starred at Duke - played in our 1st ever VirginiaPreps.com Classic back at Virginia Wesleyan in 2009 when she helped the Lady Cavs beat Forest Park.

Portsmouth Christian won't go away. They continue to battle back every time it appears Princess Anne is on the verge of pulling away.

On the other side of things, I continue to be impressed with the tight handles of freshman Kanye Clary. He's a very crafty, clever ball-handler.

A big block by Azaiyah Roberts with PC trying to cut into the 47-42 deficit with under two minutes to play. Clary is headed back to the foul line to shoot a pair.

Free-throws will be pivotal down the stretch with it being so tight and freshman Kanye Clary makes a pair for Princess Anne, now stretching its lead to seven points at 43-36 with 5:40 to play.

Portsmouth Christian needs to get some outside shots to drop to make a comeback. And they just got a long-distance make from Chris Locklear, a reserve for the Patriots.

Princess Anne guards Amory Smith and Kanye Clary have stepped up for stretches offensively. Meanwhile, Portsmouth Christian is making a concerted effort to get Ade Jenkins involved in the paint.

Defensively, Coach Corey Coffer's PA squad has done a really solid job of keeping Portsmouth Christian from getting easy drives to the bucket.

Remember, this is a pivotal game for the Cavs in their hunt for the playoffs in Region 5A, where they figure to be battling with the likes of Kempsville, Nansemond River, Indian River and maybe a couple others for one of the final postseason spots.

Big boost of momentum for Portsmouth Christian to get that long-range connection to grab the lead through one quarter of play.

This one figures to be a back-and-forth affair. The storyline we have in this is that you have two former Princess Anne starters - point guard Tim Montgomery and forward Ade Jenkins - playing against their former team.