Titans Reign Supreme at Scope (VIDEO)

Despite seeing Tallwood - which scored a significant upset the night before by toppling previously undefeated Oscar Smith - jump out to a 6-0 lead, the Lake Taylor Titans never panicked. They closed the first half by scoring 36 of the next 55 points in seizing full control on their way to winning the Norfolk Scope Holiday Classic.

It was a balanced attack for Kenny Brown's Titans, now 7-3 overall. Five players scored in double-figures, led by junior wing Dereon Seabron's 16 points. Seabron also grabbed eight rebounds. Junior guard Joe Bryant, named the MVP of the Scope Holiday Classic, contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Junior point guard Tyquan McNair came off the bench and scored 14 points. He also was one of five players with multiple assists for Lake Taylor.

The Titans were pests to the Tallwood guards defensively, notching 13 steals, four apiece by senior Demontae Tyler and junior Tyrone Washington. Tyler had 14 points. Junior wing Jalen Jordan tallied 10.

Lake Taylor didn't commit its first turnover in the third quarter until 1:04 remaining in the period. By then, they opened the second half by making 10-of-16 field goals.

A total of 14 different players scored for Tallwood. Senior guard Tyree Golston was their high scorer with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the foul line. Freshman Kaleb Peterson chipped in 11 points. What didn't help the Lions, who fell to 6-3 overall, was the fact they went 2-of-13 from three-point land.

The Oscar Smith Tigers nearly saw a 21-point second half lead completely evaporate as they had to hold on for dear life to beat the Granby Comets in the 3rd Place Game at the Scope Holiday Classic. Granby saw a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer bounce off the front of the rim, enabling the Tigers - ranked #1 in all of Group 6A - to survive and move to 10-1 overall.

A very slow shooting start dug Granby a big hole. The Comets missed their first ten field goal tries, yet only trailed Oscar Smith 16-8 by the end of the first quarter. LaVar Griffin's Tigers doubled up Mike Evans' Comets 20-10 in the second period to lead it 36-18 at intermission.

Three players scored in double-figures for Oscar Smith with Virginia State commit T.J. Taylor and ballyhooed freshman Cameron Thomas scoring 18 points apiece. Taylor added 10 rebounds and five assists. Junior 6'6" center Nyzaiah Chambers posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds to go with four blocks.

Granby, which shot just 3-of-18 from three-point distance, began to claw its way back, thanks to seniors Giovanni Jones and Jermiah Jenkins. Jones finished with 22 points and six rebounds. Jenkins shook off a sluggish start to tally 18 points, seven of which came in the fourth quarter during the Comets' 21-4 run that pulled them within a pair.

The Comets fell to 8-4 overall with the loss, their second in a row. These two teams will meet again during the regular season since they are both in Monitor-Merrimac Conference 2 in 6A-South. That game will be at Granby on January 27th.

Playing without two-time Second Team All-Region center Emonni Wood, who suffered an ankle injury against Booker T. Washington in Tuesday's win, the Green Run Stallions were not sure how they would come out against the Kellam Knights in the 5th Place Game at the Scope Holiday Classic. They started and finished strong in cruising to victory to move to 8-2 overall.

Green Run bolted to a 7-0 lead, although Kellam would not be totally detoured. Norm Hassell's Knights drained five of their first seven shot attempts from three-point range, eventually taking a brief 15-14 lead early in the second quarter. However, Green Run hit them with a blast, going on a 23-2 run to take full command by half-time.

Four players scored in double-figures for Kenneth Harris' Stallions with senior guard Najon Nobles, sophomore guard Ashley James and senior guard Damon Showers all tallying 15 points apiece. Best of all, that trio was a collective 19-of-27 from the field as Green Run converted 53.6% of their field goal attempts (30-of-56) for the contest.

Shawn Sanders, who scored a career-high 40 points the day before, recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 boards. Defensively, the Stallions got after Kellam in causing 23 turnovers. Junior PG Cortez Johnson had five of their 19 steals.

Green Run also shot 5-of-10 from three-point land with Nobles connecting on 3-of-5. For Kellam (5-4) in defeat, the Knights were led by Jalen Craig's 12 points. Craig will be headed to Pacific Lutheran University, a Division III program in Tacoma, Washington, after the season.

The Cox Falcons couldn't have started much better than they did in the 7th Place game at the Scope Holiday Classic against Booker T. Washington, which led Green Run by as many as nine points in the second quarter before succumbing to the Stallions.

Cox shot 9-of-15 from the field in the opening period, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, in building a 24-4 lead. Meanwhile, the Bookers struggled to knock down shots, going 2-of-14 through eight minutes of play. Red hot out of the gate for the Falcons was sophomore guard Kavon James, who finished with 21 points and had 18 of those in the first half.

James scored all of his points on three-pointers, converting on 7-of-10 from long distance to open before cooling off and missing his final four. Also scoring 21 points for Cox was another sophomore guard in Tayvion Robinson, a two-sport athlete drawing recruiting attention for the next level in football. Robinson made 8-of-11 field goal tries to go with nine rebounds and five assists.

For the game, Cox made 30-of-58 field goals (51.7%). Senior 6'6" center Kelvin Nicholson was two blocks shy of a triple-double, finishing with 13 points, 16 rebounds and eight rejections. Freshman Jordan Lewis had 10 points, six boards and four assists. His older brother, Keshawn Lewis, handed out seven assists.

Coming off the bench, Clemson football recruit Jordan Williams grabbed seven rebounds and failing to get second chance opportunities plagued Booker T. Washington. For the game, the Bookers had just two offensive rebounds, one coming in the fourth quarter. Lamont Edmonds was the top scorer for Booker T. with nine points. The Bookers ended shooting 12-of-51 (23.5%) from the field.

Joe Bryant, Lake Taylor - MVP
Dereon Seabron, Lake Taylor
Adrian Beasley, Tallwood
T.J. Taylor, Oscar Smith
Giovanni Jones, Granby
Shawn Sanders, Green Run

Matthew Hatfield serves as Publisher 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 10AM on ESPN Radio 94.1.