The annual Leon Brogden Holiday Basketball Tournament showcased the four local Wilmington high schools against teams from New York, Ohio, Maryland and Fayetteville, NC on December 27, 28, 29 at New Hanover’s Brogden Hall.

On the opening day, New Hanover was able to defeat Seventy-First out of Fayetteville 69-53. The Wildcats were coming off a third place finish in Myrtle Beach as they suffered their first loss of the season in the tournament that wrapped up before Christmas. Laney was also able to advance into the winners’ side of the bracket with their 58-51 victory over Archbishop Alter who made the trip from Ohio.

Hoggard and Ashley were not as fortunate on day one as they both suffered losses. The Vikings were nipped by Mount St. Joseph, the eventual champion, 44-41 while the Eagles fell to eventual runner-up Frederick Douglas Academy from New York, 51-43.

On day two, the winners faced off and the Port City saw both of their entries bumped off. New Hanover was bounced by Mt. St. Joseph, 64-58, and Laney by Frederick Douglas, 59-44. It was also a rough day for the local teams in the losers’ bracket as Hoggard was beat by Seventy-First, 55-45, and Archbishop Alter took care of Ashley, 58-44. All in all, the local contingents were 0-4 on the day, but would clash in a pair of games on the final day.

In the first game, Hoggard beat Ashley 64-52 to claim seventh place. Senior guard Griffin Leuck scored 23 points including fifteen in the first half on a perfect 4-4 from the floor, 5-5 from the line. The Vikings broke a two game losing streak and improved to 8-5 on the season. The Vikings will get back into Mideastern Conference action on Friday when they host White Oak. Ashley will resume action against Southern Wayne on Wednesday (1/2) and at West Brunswick on Friday.

New Hanover and Laney faced off in the third place game on Saturday in the final game of the tournament for both teams. The first half was nip and tuck throughout with neither team able to pull away from the other. New Hanover held a lead of a few points for most of the half, but the Bucs snagged a four point lead 37-33 as the end of the second quarter neared. The Wildcats got a four point play with just :07 left before halftime and the local rivals ended the half deadlocked at 37. While clearly outsized on the front line, the Bucs didn’t back down and continually took the ball to the hoop challenging the bigs of the Wildcats. While some shots were blocked with authority, it never phased Laney who maintained their aggressive attitude on offense. The Wildcats struggled at times during the first half, but were often bailed out by Rakeem Wilson who hit several three pointers to keep the game close.

Laney was a bit flat offensively to start the third quarter and couldn’t generate many good scoring opportunities. New Hanover outscored the Bucs 15-8 in the period and seized a 52-45 lead going into the fourth quarter. The defense of Jermaine Jones helped spark the Wildcats who turned many opportunities created by their defense to points on the offensive end. Ryan Sutton drained a three to start the fourth quarter and New Hanover opened up a 10 point lead.

But give the Bucs credit, they battled back and cut the lead to 62-60 with just 2:47 to play. They had a few chances to tie, or even take the lead with a three, but couldn’t get overt the final hump as New Hanover pulled away winning 68-62. New Hanover improved to 13-2, while Laney fell to 7-4 with the loss.

Laney head coach Fred Lynch said after the game, “The second half, they went inside a lot…I thought the real difference in the game was Rakeem hitting those three’s in the first half when nobody else was making many shots for them. But we played well, we played hard, we just made too many mistakes right there at the end and in close ball games, that’s what is going to cost you.” Jermaine Emmanuel led all scorers with 25 points for the Bucs.

The championship game was all Mount St. Joseph. The team from Baltimore rolled to a 48-28 win over Frederick Douglas and Georgetown bound Henry Simms was named the tournament MVP, partly thanks to his 18 points in the title game. .

MVP - Henry Simms - Mt. St. Joseph

All-Tournament - Eric Atkins - Mt. St. Joseph

Ryan Siggins - Archbishop Alter -Ohio

John Riley - Frederick Douglas

Jermaine Emanuel - Laney

Rakeem Wilson - New Hanover