Able to get get some HAECO follow-up info up here finally, after fighting a cold most of day…Was a cold day, and had cold on top of that chill….
But when you look back at the 2022 HAECO Invitational Basketball Tournament, it was a true success…
In talking to the head coach of the Women’s Championship Team, from Bishop McGuinness, the Villains head coach Brian Robinson said this was the best-run Christmas Tournament his team had ever played in…And for Coach Robinson and Bishop, this was just their third Christmas Tournament Title since 2005, so it shows you, they are hard to come by…It/They don’t come easy…
Coach Robinson said he was just so impressed with the job the Greensboro Sports Council does in the way they run and operate the HAECO Tournament…He said from top-to-bottom everything was first class, and he said that the Show Pro Security people escorting you to your locker room, gave this tournament a big-time feel….
Brian Robinson said he watched this tournament from afar going back to when he was at WS Reynolds, and that he has wanted to get in here for the HAEOCO, and now that he is in, he and his Bishop McGuinness Villains women’s basketball team, they want to stay…
Bishop Women’s MVP, Adelaide Jernigan, told us she loved this tournament, and that she thinks this tournament will help her Villains team get back to the 1-A State Tournament again this season…Jernigan said it was great “Journey” for her and her teammates, and she also said that the last game of the tourney, the Women’s Championship Game against the Smith Golden Eagles, she said the game was played against some of the toughest defense that she has seen…Overall she said playing against that tough Smith defense was frustrating, but that she had to battle through it…
Smith started out running Azarisa Scott on defense on Jernigan, and the “D” turned in by Scott was some of the best we have ever seen…It was like a bulldog defense, with no room at in the inn(side) or out…Smith also used Shammara Rogers on Jernigan, and they would then turn to Azahreya Drayton-Gill to cover her…Smith also called on Morgan Smith to slow down Jernigan…Jernigan still found her way through that outstanding Smith Golden Eagle defense for a Championship Game leading 19 points, and 7 rebounds, on her way to the Most Valuable Player Award status…
Zoe Davis topped Smith in scoring/rebounding, in the title game, with 15 points and 13 rebounds…Davis is load to try and stop, as she can dominate the interior of the lane…
In a lot of way Bishop gets you, because they force you to work harder on defense, and sometimes you don’t have as much left for offense…Bishop was averaging 66.5 points a game in the tournament coming into the Championship Game, so that right there, tells how tough the Smith defense was, playing to hold Bishop to just 45 points in the final game…
Talking to victorious Greensboro Day School coach Freddy Johnson, he is never low key when expressing his love for this HAECO Invitational Basketball Tournament, and why should he be??? Greensboro Day now has 19 HAECO Tournament Titles, and one has to think that Coach Johnson is not done yet…He told us he hopes to still be coaching when his grandsons, Cross and Worth Johnson, are ready to play for the GDS Bengals…Thinking his grandsons are around 8 years old now, they should be ready to hit the Bengals’ varsity team in about 7 years, and that would give them four years with the GDS boys varsity basketball team, and have Coach Freddy Johnson rolling for around 11 more years as the GDS head coach…I do really think Coach Johnson would love to coach his grandsons, and to have them in HAECO, under his guidance…Nothing at all wrong with that, and I have often wondered if Cross and Worth Johnson were named after former local attorney Worth Holleman in any way…Worth Holleman was fine local attorney, and he was very big part of the Greensboro Sports Council back in his day…”Worth” Holleman with a lot of “Cross”-examinations back during his time in the courtroom, so maybe Cross and Worth Johnson came from that origin…
The Smith defense made GDS work to win this year’s event, and with a very strong second quarter, Smith trailed GDS, by just five points at halftime, 30-25…Smith Coach Derrick Partee has his young men’s attention and Markquan Gilbert turned in an MVP performance in just about every game for Smith, and saved some of his best stuff for final game, finishing with 23 points on 10-14 shooting from the field…Jaydon Young, the tourney MVP, topped out the game with his game-leading 27 points, and four assists…Young became a back-to-back Men’s MVP Winner, and he and his GDS Bengals never get tired of that type of the ‘same old thing’…..
The difference in the story was the fact that GDS got 14 points from their second leading scorer, Joe Bachman, and for Smith, Gilbert was their only man in double-digits…Bachman also contributed a monsterous number of rebounds, by hauling down 15 big boards, to lead all rebounders…GDS out-rebounded Smith, 41-29, due in part to their BTO man, Bachman Turner Overdrive…Also really appreciated the work turned in by Will Otto from GDS…He was driving, sliding, stopping, starting, jumping, falling and doing everything it takes to make his team better…
Smith has what it takes to become a conference champion, with players that can go, like CJ Neely, Gage Lattimore, Nick Aikens, Xavier Neely and Josh Hughes, and Smith has a big that is lean, and he can be mean, and that is Jahlil Green…He can be a stop sign around the middle, if gets his timing and footwork down…The GDS defense is hard to fight for a full 32 minutes, and Smith was close for much of the game, but in the end, GDS will end up wearing you down, and then they will put you away…
Ben L. Smith has a lot to proud of coming out of the 2022 HAECO Invitational Basketball Tournament…Smith had both their boys and girls teams, in the Mens and Womens finals, and that speaks volumes for the Smith HS athletic program, led by Athletic Director, Chris Lassiter…Smith has moved on up, and when you are in, or around the finals every year, you have arrived, and Smith has arrived…
Greensboro Day and Bishop McGuinness are right here at the top too, with GDS men getting there, and staying there, and Bishop getting here, and looking to stick around…
Congrats to all of the teams that participated in this year’s tournament….To the players, and their coaches, a job well done…Thanks to Dennis White and Don Moore, for the job they did in making sure the broadcasts were possible, on
GreensboroSports Radio, where the games are playing back in rewind/repeat mode, and they will be there for the next week…
Was able to conduct a lot of good interviews during the tournament, and in talking to Greensboro Sports Foundation President Richard Beard, we were able to discuss a lot of history about the tournament, as the Little Four, the Pizza Hut Tournament, the Timco Tournament, and now the HAECO Invitational Basketball Tournament…Richard has been following this basketball bonanza since back around 1979…That is going back to nearly the inception of the tourney….
We also spoke about all of the big sporting events that the Greensboro Sports Foundation is bringing to Greensboro, as the Gate City/”Tournament Town”….Richard Beard said the secret to being able to host all of the big and popular sports events here in our town, are the groups like the Greensboro Sports Council, and the legion of volunteers that serve as host to all of the incoming guests….
Ricard Beard can really break it all down, but the former Page Pirate said the real key again, was our outstanding event volunteers…Hats off to Ricard Beard and Demp Bradford, for the job that they are doing at the Greensboro Sports Foundation, formerly the Greensboro Sports Commission, and still a shout out RIP, to the Greensboro Sports Commission founding-father, Tom Ward….
Had a good talk with Tyler Key, the Co-Chairman of this year’s tournament, and Tyler was one of the top reps from the Greensboro Sports Council…Tyler said the tournament is in great shape, and it continues to grow….Already looking forward to the 2023 edition, of The HAECO…
In just four more years, it will be time for 50th HAECO Tournament, and HAEOC media director Rob Goodman said there should be much excitement surrounding that event…Maybe a Top Ten List of HAECO Top Moments, maybe bringing back former coaches, teams, and players and recognizing them…Teams have come and gone, and then come back to the tournament, over the years…You have the Core Four of Grimsley, Page, Smith and Dudley, and all are still here today, plus you have had Southwest Guilford, Wesleyan Christian Academy(with Nathan Jameson), High Point Central, High Point Andrews, Thomasville, Eastern Guilford, Western Guilford, and more recently Northeast Guilford, Northern Guilford, and Northwest Guilford have all be part of the HAECO History….
A bunch of different teams, coaches, and players from over the years…Remember “Little Sam” Hunt, when you used to win the Free Throw Shooting Contest every year, from age 7 up to about age 14, when he became a Dudley Panther player…Lots of great memories from over the years, and that Fifty-Year event should really be special….
2022 was another huge SUCCESS, and thanks to all who participated…The HAECO Invitational Basketball Tournament….