Canes to meet Parkview in tourney finals; Excel falls in semifinal
CARTERSVILLE BOYS 75, CREEKVIEW 62
The Cartersville boys’ basketball team advanced to the championship game of the North Paulding Better Basketball Christmas Classic with a thirteen point win over Creekview Monday night.
The Hurricanes trailed 18-15 after one quarter, but clamped down the defense in the second period to take a five point cushion to the intermission at 34-29. The Canes, who had four players reach double figures, pushed their advantage to 13 points after three quarters and maintained it in the final stanza. Jaylon Pugh led Cartersville with 19 points. Kobie Whitfield scored 17, Cade Archer 15, and Cortney Cooley added 11 for the Canes. JKobe Orr also added six points for the Purple Hurricanes.
Weber Sandlin scored 18 to lead Creekview. Donovan Lang and K.J. Jenkins tallied 13 each.
Cartersville (5-1) will face Parkview (6-5) Tuesday night at 8:30pm for the tournament title at North Paulding High School.
PARKVIEW BOYS 67, EXCEL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 59
Darius Thrower scored 20 points and Excel Christian battled Class AAAAAA Parkview deep into the fourth quarter, but in the end, the Eagles lost by eight Monday night in the semifinal round of the North Paulding High School Better Basketball Christmas Classic.
Parkview led by nine after one quarter, but Excel chipped away at that advantage in the middle two periods to trail by only three heading into the fourth quarter, 42-39. The Panthers then used a 25-point fourth period to hold off the Eagles 67-59.
Caleb West and Chris Hale reached double figures for ECA with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Latrel Jones had eight for the Eagles, while Hunter Johnson and Joseph Cuomo added four apiece.
Truitt Spncer led Parkview with 21 points and Cam Chavers scored 14 for the Panthers. Jack Lapenta and Jamiel Wright chipped in with eight points each and Miles Marshall added six.
Excel (5-6) reached the tournament semifinals by knocking off the host North Paulding Wolfpack Saturday in the opening round of the three-day tournament.
The Eagles will play Creekview Tuesday at 5:30pm in the tournament’s third place game at North Paulding High School. Parkview will play Cartersville at 8:30pm in the tournament finals.
