After two days and 16 incredible basketball games, the 26th annual Battle at the Border Tournament at Landrum High School drew to a close on Tuesday. The tournament championship games capped the tourney off with competitive games across the board – both of which featured the home standing Landrum Cardinals.
In the girls’ championship, the Lady Cards took on a resurgent 5A foe in the Spartanburg Vikings. The two sides traded blows throughout the opening 8 minutes with Landrum taking a narrow 17-11 lead. However the Cardinals would end up floundering a bit in the 2nd stanza, going scoreless for around 5 minutes to allow Spartanburg to cut their lead to 24-23 until a layup sparked a brief 4-0 spurt with around 2 and a half minutes to play in the half. Landrum was able to ride that to a 32-28 halftime advantage.
The Cardinals were able to break the game open in the third quarter, which ended with Kylie Fortner breaking a skid dating back to the first quarter with a layup at the buzzer that propelled Landrum to a 49-43 lead. That cushion ballooned early in the final 8 minutes after back to back threes from Fortner and tournament MVP Delaney Caldwell, and as the next 5 minutes ticked away, the Cards built a 19 point lead that would end up holding. Spartanburg rallied back to within single digits, but by the final horn, Landrum walked away with the trophy and a 69-61 victory.
The Boys’ championship game could only be described as.. In light of the popular Netflix series coming to an end tomorrow – Stranger Things. The contest began as a sloppy rockfight where both sides turned the ball over a lot and struggled mightily to get any shots to fall. But the game evolved three times over the span of 32 minutes. In almost deja vu fashion to Monday’s semifinals, Landrum was once again being forced to play a perimeter game in the early going. Unlike the rest of the tournament, the home squad could not find a rhythm from beyond the arch and had to try to rely on finding ways to get to the basket and draw fouls – a defensive game plan they were able to duplicate against Blue Ridge, which spelled a narrow 15-14 lead for the Cardinals going into the 2nd period.
That sloppiness continued in the 2nd eight minutes in a tense fashion that could only be described as a war of attrition in the paint, with Landrum managing to hold a 26-24 advantage at the half. Out of the intermission, the offenses finally got going, which devolved the game into a shootout – a situation that, for a team that can hit threes in bunches like Landrum, would ordinarily be ideal. But, they were not able to string together consecutive triples in this game – meaning they just had to rely on getting stops and trading baskets. Ivan Williams – who was an all tournament selection was up to that task down the stretch as was the hero of the semifinals Noah Dodd. The duo combined for 29 points over the final 2 frames. But, if you could pinpoint one thing that was a swing/difference in this contest, it was that Blue Ridge had multiple players score near double digits in the 2nd half.
Trey Bradley logged 7 points, Alton Every had 8, Ty’Korian Campbell also notched 7, and Chase Hoover scored 9. Another thing that went against the Cardinals was the difference at the free throw line. The Tigers doubled the Cards’ output at the stripe – particularly in the 2nd half. In total, Landrum was 12-22 from the line, but just 4 for 10 in the final 16 minutes. Blue Ridge was 8 of 15 in the second half alone, while going 10-19 on the night.
Despite all that, the Cardinals were still within a possession with the game on the line in the final seconds. But, trailing by 2, the Blue Ridge defense swarmed Landrum, preventing them from being able to get anyone open for a game winning three or a lane for a tying layup. The game ended with AJ Lindsey holding the ball, unable to get a final shot off as the horn sounded, with Blue Ridge taking the Battle at the Border Championship 66-64.
Ivan Williams ended up with 21 points and Noah Dodd tallied 18. Aj Lindsey just missed double figures with 9 and Cooper Tidwell notched 8. Only one other Cardinal had 5 or more points – Isaiah Atkins with 5. Blue Ridge was led by Campbell with 27 points. Hoover notched 11, and Every logged 8. Braylon Edwards and Ryan Boyd each had 5 to cap the scoring for the Tigers.
Here are the rest of the results of Championship Tuesday
Girls Silver Bracket
Championship
Blue Ridge 59
Broome 30
Third Place
Chapman 55
High Point 32
Girls Gold Bracket
Third Place
Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy (NC) 62
Boiling Springs 45
Boys Silver Bracket
Championship
Union 47
West Henderson 36
Third Place
Greenville Hurricanes 79
Broome 60
Boys Gold Bracket
Third Place
Brevard 68
Walhalla 61
You must be logged in to post a comment Login