By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
YEATESVILLE — Terra Ceia overcame a three point first quarter and a smothering East Carteret defense to take a 52-40 win in the championship game of the Washington Daily News Holiday Invitational Tournament on Friday.
Tournament MVP Mychal Parker was the catalyst for the Knights as he netted 27 points and ton of defensive rebounds to guide Terra Ceia to a tournament victory.
Knights’ coach Roger Klaassen said the taking home the WDN title was a boost to the program.
Knowing the Knights (11-5) favor the running game, East Carteret (5-5) coach Billy Anderson slowed the game down to a crawl as he ran motion and four corner sets to slow the pace of the game.
Anderson’s tactics worked as his team held the Knights to three first quarter points to take an 8-3 lead into the second quarter.
Terra Ceia picked up the pace in the second quarter as point guard Hendrik Van Dorp got more involved in the offense tallying six second quarter points to go along with Parker’s nine.
Van Dorp finished the game with 12 points and earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
Leading the way for the Mariners was Deangelo Stewart, whose quick dribble got Terra Ceia’s Bradley Van Staalduinen in foul trouble as well as a team-high 15 points. Stewart also earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
Terra Ceia took its first lead of the game when Hunter Davenport scored on a layup to make a 13-11. The Knights would cling on to the lead at halftime with the score 21-20.
The Mariners came out of the break and rattled off an 8-0 run behind the play of Stewart and Jonathan Tompson, but the Knights clawed their way back to a tie with defense.
After a Payne Snow steal, the guard was able to get the ball out to Parker for two-handed stuff that sent the festive crowd into a frenzy and knotted the score at 29.
Despite and inept half court offense, Terra Ceia was able to remain tied, and take a 34-34 score into the fourth.
With eight minutes left on the clock, the Knights were able to shed the shackles of the Mariners’ slow pace and rip off a 19-6 run to close out the game.
Van Dorp was able to pilot the Knights’ fast break and got the team back on track. Parker also picked up his play in the fourth adding nine points for the Knights.
Klaassen said the play of Van Dorp was crucial.
Hurricanes blow by Panthers
All-tournament players Dominique Holiday and Braelyn Blount formed a dominant inside-out combination for Pamlico as the Hurricanes were able to blow by the Northside 53-31 in the consolation game of the Washington Daily News Holiday Invitational Tournament.
Blount pounded the Panthers down low and scored 11 points for Pamlico (6-3), while Holiday was able to feed off of that for a team-high 12. Both players saw little action in the second half.
Hurricanes’ coach Earl Sadler said he was happy to see his team improve its offensive effort.
Sadler also said the ability to get the ball inside was huge for his team.
The Panthers fought hard in the first quarter and found themselves down 13-8 at the end of it, but Northside combined for only nine points over the next two quarters.
Jacob Pernov led Northside with eight points, but it wasn’t nearly enough for Northside who was down 34-13 at halftime.
D.J. Satterwaithe brought some hustle to the team along with his four points to earn a spot on the all-tournament team for Northside (1-8).
Championship game
East Carteret 8 12 14 6 — 40
Terra Ceia 3 18 13 19 — 52
Terra Ceia (52)
Mychal Parker 27, Hendrik Van Dorp 12, Snow 4, Davenport 2, Hubers 2, Van Staalduinen 4.
East Carteret (40)
Deangelo Stewart 15, Willis 2, Tompson 8, Baker 3, Dunbar 2.
Consolation game
Pamlico 13 21 9 10 — 53
Northside 8 5 4 14 — 31
Pamlico (53)
Braelyn Blount 11, Hutt 4, Jones 8, Dominique Holiday 12, Pearsall 6, King 2, Sawyer 2, Gibbs 4, Credle 2, Payne 2.
Northside (31)
Mason 5, Cooper 6, Pernov 8, O’Neal 2, Mackey 3, Satterwaithe 4, Dail 3.
WDN All-Tournament team
MVP — Mychal Parker, Terra Ceia
All-Tournament
Hendrik Van Dorp, Terra Ceia
Deangelo Stewart, East Carteret
Dominique Holiday, Pamlico
Braelyn Blount, Pamlico
D.J. Satterwaithe, Northside