L.A. Logan: Martin Luther King Jr. Basketball Classic Game Recaps

Special Report from L.A. Logan.

Mount Tabor – 74
Greenfield – 67

Mount Tabor (11-4) held off Greenfield (18-3), 74-67, in what could have been a blowout.

Mount Tabor, led by twin senior guards Austin and Taylor Hatfield, was lucky to come away with the victory after shooting poorly from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

Both teams played like there was a 10 second shot clock in the first quarter.

The Hatfields relentlessly attacked the rim, while Greenfield depended on sophomore point guard Jalen Harris to distribute the ball around to 6’6 senior guard Ashley Williams (committed to Western Carolina) and 6’8 senior forward Logan McClane (committed to Miami, OH).

The plan worked for Greenfield up until halftime as Mount Tabor switched to a 2-1-2 matchup zone forcing Greenfield into shooting contested long range shots.

Mount Tabor opened up a 14 points lead, 65-51, with 6:20 left to go in the fourth. Then Greenfield started fouling right away and Mount Tabor simply could not take care of business at the stripe.

Harris swished two free throws to cut the lead down to 10 with 5:00 left on the clock. Soon after hit a tough turnaround fadaway from the right baseline while falling out of bounds to inch his squad closer, 67-60.

On their very next possession, McClane hit the same shot as Harris, almost like they were playing horse, but McClane was fouled and swished the free throw. Now the score was 67-63.

After failing to hit clutch free throws on the other end, Mount Tabor fouled junior guard Dwanya Sutton on a layup attempt that fell threw. The lead now was 67-65.

After Sutton’s free throw rattled in and out, Mount Tabor finally capitalized at the foul stripe to end the game on a 7-2 run.

Austin finished with 26 points and Taylor added 16 for the Spartans.


High Point Christian – 57
Christ School – 32

Christ School came into this game with a 10-9 record in the MLK Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic as they faced the number two-ranked team in the state.

High Point Christian rolled over Christ School, 57-32. Senior guard Joey McLean finished with 13 points and led the way to the blowout victory extending their winning streak to four games.

Early on in the action junior guard Michael Provenzano hit a trifecta as time expired in the first quarter giving HPC an 18-9 advantage.

Christ School struggled the entire game trying to get off a quality shot. It seemed as though 6’10 senior center Lloyd Burgess (committed to UNC-G) would be in for a monster game due to HPC’s lack of size. But that was not the case.

HPC contained Burgess by fronting him in the post and making it hard for Christ School’s guards to get a good passing angle to get the big guy the ball.

HPC face Calvary Baptist Day in Winston-Salem on 1-24.


Page – 70
Trinity Christian – 67

In the most anticipated game of the MLK Classic, Page versus Trinity Christian, junior guard Anthony Eaves launched a trifecta from the left corner with defenders draped all over him.

The result: Buzzer Beater. Page (14-1) defeated Trinity Christian, 70-67.

This game did not disappoint and I knew why it was the last game of the day.

The game featured future NCAA Division I players, sophomore guard Ty Graves, Eaves, senior guard/forward Jeremy Harris, junior forward/center Xavier Hill-Mais and senior point-guard Jalen Gavin (if he decides to go that route) for the Pirates.

Trinity Christian (16-4) stars include sophomore guard Dennis Smith Jr., junior forward Alonzo Tyson, sophomore Kwe-Shaun Parker, and former Page Pirate, sophomore forward Kylia Sykes.

The first scoring play of the game resulted in an ally-oop to Tyson. Hill-Mais answered with a backdoor pass to Harris for the finish.

From start to finish both teams displayed their basketball IQ and athleticism. Right after sophomore forward Diondre Overton’s explosive dunk, Smith, Jr. answered with a trifecta that put Trinity Christian on top 29-28.

Later in the second quarter, Smith, Jr. scored on a tough floater in that lane as he was fouled by Graves. His free-throw pushed Trinity to their largest lead of the game, 34-28.

Smith finished with a game-high 20 points. Page held Parker to 7 points, 5 points shy of his season average of 12 points per game.

Gavin’s dribble-drive layup over Parker cut Page’s deficit to 46-50.

Trinity Christian held on to the lead in the third after Smith Jr.’s 3-pointer tied the biggest margin of the game 57-50.

Harris opened the fourth with a 4-point run of his own following a spin-move hook shot. On the other end senior guard Lee Moore knocked in a 3-pointer from the left corner off the pass from Smith that that gave Trinity a 61-56 advantage.

A few possessions later, Overton’s basket tied the game 65-65. And then Eaves hit on a 2-point attempt that gave the Pirates their first lead since the first quarter. Overton finished with 12 points and Eaves added 7 (3 of those won the game).

On Trinity’s last possession, Smith swished two free-throws and tied the ballgame 65-65.

And the rest is history. Eaves arguably hit the biggest 3-pointer of his career ending the game 70-67.

Graves scored a team-high 19 points in the victory, Harris scored 15 and Hill-Mais finished with 11.

Tyson had 13 points, Moore contributed 11, senior guard JR Sherin had 6 and Sykes only had 2.

One thought on “L.A. Logan: Martin Luther King Jr. Basketball Classic Game Recaps

Comments are closed.