CHOCOWINITY — In third year of the Seahawks Holiday Invitational basketball tournament Southside finally found a way to get into the championship game, however, it could not figure out how to slow down Jermicus Brown as he led Pamlico to a 59-40 victory to win the tourney title.
The lengthy and athletic Brown scored a game-high 17 points to hand the Hurricanes their first ever Holiday Invitational championship.
“It feels really good. These kids have worked really hard,” Pamlico coach Earl Sadler said. “Southside just hung around and hung around and then we finally were able to grind it out.”
The Seahawks hung toe-to-toe with Pamlico early as Donshae Miller scored the team’s first eight points of the game to take an 8-8 tie into the second.
Miller would finish the game with 10 points, while Rokeem Miller led all Seahawks with 13.
In the second quarter, the Hurricanes were able to distance themselves from Southside has they capitalized on backdoor cuts and aggressive rebounding.
“We told them we wanted to see more backdoor cuts,” Sadler said. “Then we started getting into the post and were able to kick it out to get just enough threes to keep the defense honest.”
The Holiday Invitational offers coaches a chance to work on some things and Seahawks coach Sean White did just that in the second half.
“We came out doing something a little bit different on defense,” White said. “We changed it up and it didn’t stop (Pamlico) on offense. They were getting a lot of defensive rebounds and second shots on offense. We just couldn’t get a rebound.”
Southside trailed by only seven at halftime, but the Hurricanes opened it up in the third where Brown scored seven points in eight minutes.
Brown boosted the Hurricanes’ lead to 35-24 after he scored on a fastbreak layup at the 5:55 mark and Pamlico would close out the quarter holding a 45-30 advantage.
Southside started out the fourth quarter hot with a 6-0 run but would not be able to sustain the momentum.
For Southside, it was its first time playing in the title game of its tourney, which was a step in the right direction for the Seahawks.
“Our goal coming in was to at least make it into the championship game,” White said. “And we were able to do that.”

Pamlico    8    21    16    14    —    59
Southside    8    14    8    10    —    40
                   Hurricanes (59)
Moore 9, Bennett 10, Jermicus Brown 17, Lewis 7, Josiah Simmons 12, Randell 2, Wood 2, Davis 2.
                  Seahawks (40)
Whichard 4, Rokeem Miller 13, Moore 5, Jones 4. Donshae Miller 10, White 1, Hardy 2. No. 4 2.