The 26th annual Battle at the Border tournament kicked off on Saturday morning at Landrum High School with a field consisting of 16 teams from all around our area and Western North Carolina. The Boys’ side of the bracket consisted of the Greenville Hurricanes, Brevard Blue Devils (NC), Blue Ridge Tigers, Union County Yellow Jackets, Walhalla Razorbacks, West Henderson Falcons (NC), Broome Centurions, and the host Landrum Cardinals. The girls’ side featured the High Point Academy Grizzlies, Spartanburg Vikings, Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy Griffins (NC), Blue Ridge, Boiling Springs Bulldogs, Chapman Panthers, Broome, and Landrum.
The action got underway bright and early with the girls’ between Spartanburg and High Point, and that one got lopsided quickly as the Vikes, behind 20 points from Azaria Smith, 15 from Kaylee Nelson, and 13 from De’Asia Bridges, trounced the Grizzlies 73-18 to advance to the gold bracket.
In the second game of the day, the Blue Ridge Girls battled Thomas Jefferson in a game that was the polar opposite of its predecessor. The Griffins and Tigers stayed in a tight battle all the way, but in the end, TJCA was able to close the door for a 49-47 victory to join the Vikings in the gold bracket.
The boys’ games began around lunch time with the Greenville Hurricanes taking on Brevard, with the Blue Devils also pulling away when it came down to the final quarter for a 67-59 win to be the first to jump into the gold bracket. They would await the winner of the war of attrition between Union County and Blue Ridge that followed.
The Tiger boys looked to be in firm control after a quarter thanks to the effort of their leading scorer for the game – junior shooting guard/small forward Chase Hoover, who tallied 17 of Blue Ridge’s 25 points in the opening 8 minutes, helping the Tigers to a 25-10 lead heading to the 2nd quarter. Union did a good job of limiting his scoring to mostly free throws over the next two periods, allowing the Yellow Jackets to cut into the lead.
Union outscored the Tigers 36-25 over the next 2 frames, which made for just a 4 point game heading to the fourth quarter, where the Jackets finally got over the proverbial hump after pulling within 1 possession multiple times on a three pointer from senior point guard/shooting guard Eric Gray with 2:15 to play in the game. However, Blue Ridge immediately answered, reclaiming the lead with a triple of their own on the other end from Alton Every. They never looked back from there, propelling to a 70-63 win behind 39 points from Hoover and 13 from senior power forward/center Ty’Korian Campell.
When Girls’ action resumed, Boiling Springs took care of business against Chapman, defeating them 56-38, punching their ticket to Monday’s Gold Bracket quarterfinal against the winner of the final game on the ladies’ slate for the day, which was between Landrum and Broome. The Lady Cardinals were able to win in convincing fashion 83-54 thanks to a record-breaking performance from senior Kylie Fortner, who surpassed Robin Robertson as the all-time leading scorer in Lady Cardinals’ history during the first half. Fortner, who broke the 1,000 point mark last year as a junior, was leading the Cardinals in scoring so far in her senior season, averaging just over 19 points per game.
The penultimate boys game of the day pitted West Henderson (NC) against Walhalla with the winner set to face whoever comes out on top of the Landrum-Broome night cap. The Razorbacks jumped out to a lead that they enjoyed for a while, but the Falcons kept fighting. With about 5 seconds to play, the Hogs hit a three that gave them a 45-42 lead that they would hang on to as the attempt at a buzzer beater from just shy of half court missed wide.
In the finale, Landrum cruised to a win after establishing dominance out of the gate. The Cardinals made four of their first 5 attempts from beyond the arch and continued to shoot the three ball with confidence throughout the entirety of the game, ending with a 78-54 victory. Landrum was led by senior guard/small forward/wing Ivan Williams, who burst onto the scene in the 2nd quarter with 13 points. He would finish with 22. Senior guard Cooper Tidwell notched 15 to lead a trio of shooters with more than 10. Sophomore guard Noah Dodd added 14 while senior point guard Hayden Martindale hung 11 on the board.
Broome was led by senior forward/guard Levi Bishop, who got hot with a 10 point burst in the third period, ending up with 18. Junior guard Jordan Ramirez notched 13 while freshman guard Cooper Turner added 9.
With day one in the books the schedule for Monday’s semifinals is as follows:
Gold Bracket Boys
Brevard vs Blue Ridge 7:00 PM
Landrum vs Walhalla 8:30 PM.
Silver Bracket Boys
Greenville Hurricanes vs Union County 1:00 PM
West Henderson vs Broome 2:30 PM
Gold Bracket Girls
Spartanburg vs Thomas Jefferson 4:00 PM
Boiling Springs vs Landrum 5:30PM
Silver Bracket Girls
High Point vs Blue Ridge 10:00 AM
Chapman vs Broome 11:30 AM
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