Stallions Repeat as Va. Wesleyan Team Camp Champs (VIDEO)
For the second straight year, the Green Run Stallions were the final team standing at the Blue Marlin Team Camp held at Virginia Wesleyan College and did so with an undefeated record. In a re-match of last year's Championship game, Green Run held off a second half rally by the Granby Comets, prevailing 46-41 to cap a perfect 9-0 mark on the weekend.
The Championship was noteworthy for Green Run on a few different fronts. For one, it was the largest field ever at Virginia Wesleyan, consisting of 41 varsity squads and seven junior varsity teams. They also did it without three starters from last season's team that have moved on in Sterling Carrington (Wallace State JUCO in Alabama), DeShaun Wade (Miller School) and Justin Barnett (graduated).
Coach Kenneth Harris' crew opened play on Friday by beating Jamestown 45-28 and edged Heritage from Newport News, 34-28. In Saturday's action, the Stallions won a couple of anticipated battles against fellow state contenders as they beat Bethel 28-21 and Oscar Smith 43-35, plus defeated James River out of Midlothian.
Entering Sunday's tournament, there were six unbeaten teams with four of them from the Beach District in Cox, Green Run, Kellam and Princess Anne. Granby and Peninsula Catholic were the other two without a blemish through two days. After receiving a double bye, the Stallions needed to rally from down four with under two minutes to go to topple an improving Western Branch group, 40-34.
Green Run's mettle was put to the test against in the quarterfinals when Kellam had a lead early in the second half, only to watch the Stallions go on a 16-0 run and advance, 44-31. They then faced their largest deficit of the weekend in the semifinals against Lake Taylor, which beat them to win the Green Run Spring League Championship earlier this year.
Lake Taylor led Green Run by 11 late in the first half before a remarkable 27-6 surge by the Stallions put them up double-figures, including a three-pointer from 6-foot-6 rising senior center Emonni Wood. They ended up winning by a final count of 51-39.
Wood, a First Team All-Atlantic Conference 9 selection each of the past two seasons, ended up sharing MVP honors for the Blue Marlin Team Camp with Class of 2017 teammate Damon Showers. Early on in the Championship against Granby, it resembled the tone of last year's title match, which saw the Stallions run away for a 49-31 victory.
Granby found itself in a 26-10 deficit at the half as Wood threw down a pair of big-time dunks that excited the fans. While the Comets opened the Championship 4-of-18 from the field with five turnovers, Green Run came out hot by going 8-of-16 from the field and converted 10-of-14 free-throws. Wood had eight points before intermission with support from Class of 2019 guard Ashley James with seven points in the first half.
Another force for the Stallions was 6-foot-5 forward Shawn Sanders from the Class of 2018. Sanders proved to be a beast on the backboards with nine of his game-high 13 rebounds coming in the first half.
Mike Evans' Comets were without Class of 2019 guard Antwan Epps - their leading scorer from a season ago who was out of town - and searching for some kind of spark. Fellow First Team All-Monitor-Merrimac Conference 2 selection Giovanni Jones proved to be the one to ignite Granby in the second half as he scored 14 of their first 22 points. That quickly cut Green Run's double-figure lead down to just two.
With under a minute to go and Granby having a chance to tie or take a lead that would enable them to steal the Championship, the Stallions were able to put it away when Showers made a swipe and turned his steal into a lay-up that gave Green Run a two-possession cushion.
Wood and Class of 2017 guard Najon Nobles scored 10 points apiece for Green Run. James and Sanders added nine points each. Showers chipped in eight points and three steals. Neither starters Cortez Johnson (2018) nor Torey Fields (2017) scored in the Championship game, but both played key roles in their success during the course of the weekend, as did Jachon Brown, a 6-foot-8 rising junior center.
For Granby - which had five wins by five points or less on the weekend - they were led by Jones' 18 points. Rising sophomore Daleon Gibson had eight points. Mikah Blackwell, a 6-foot-5 rising senior, grabbed nine rebounds to go with seven points.
The first three rounds of the varsity tourney were 30-minute running clock games, then it switched to a pair of 20-minute halves beginning in the quarterfinal round.
Green Run also won the J.V. Tournament of the Virginia Wesleyan Team Camp as the Stallions defeated Nansemond River, 43-39 for the Championship.
Matthew Hatfield serves as State Basketball Analyst for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a staff writer for Tar Heel Illustrated. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10 AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.