The Wolverines from Raleigh achieved that, trailing by two points with just over a minute to play before falling 66-59 to the Gaels from New York in the championship game Tuesday night.
East Chapel Hill rode six treys by Chris Mangum and the bullish inside play of Warren Roberson to defeat Pinecrest 81-54 for third place. Earlier in the day, fifth place went to Hoke County in a 75-60 victory over Northern Durham and Northwood beat Leesville Road 77-56 to take seventh place.
“The biggest thing we wanted to do was change their tempo,” Kinkelaar said of the Gaels. “They just wanted to run up and down the floor. I wanted them to have to play defense a little longer. Basically it came down to we missed some key shots and some free throws.”
The pace was to the underdog’s liking in a first half that remained close most of the way.
Gael guard Gil Montalvo and tournament MVP Danny Green repeated their alley-oop act from the night before for a dunk and a 16-13 lead as the first quarter ended. Sam Carlisle, the 6-foot-9, 260-pound center of the Wolves tied the game at 20-20 with a trey from above the key.
But with Green picking up a double-double in the first half to go with three blocked shots and his brother Rashad scoring 11 first-half points, the Gaels led 35-24 at halftime.
It was also apparent at the outset that the Wolverines were not going to allow a team that drained 11 three-pointers against Pinecrest the night before score three points at a time. A trey by Jon Ager at the start of the second half was the last of the Gaels’ four treys in the game.
“There weren’t leaving me at all today,” said Ager, who canned 10 from behind the arc in the tournament.
“We tried to stop their two three-point shooters (Ager and Montalvo),” Wolverine forward Kerry Atkinson said. “Jordon (Coston) and Justin (London) stepped it up and had them contained.”
In the second half, it was the Wolves that used the three-pointer to draw close. Treys by Elhadji N’Diaye and Carlisle cut the lead to 43-40. A pair from behind the arc by Coston early in the fourth quarter made it 49-46. One of two at the line by N’Diaye made it 49-47 with seven minutes left in the game.
With both teams showing the wear and tear down the stretch, Rashad Green was fouled in the act of shooting and made both charity tosses for a 56-51 lead with just over three minutes remaining.
After N’Daiye matched the two at the line, Atkinson and Rashad Green traded baskets making it 58-55 with 1:26 on the clock.
One for two at the line by the Gaels’ Tyson Johnson and a layup by N’Daiye made it 59-57 with 1:05 to play. But a near turnover at midcourt ended up instead with a basket by Danny Green on a pass from Ilik Joseph-Pauline. A pair of free throws by Rashad Green with 25.7 seconds left wrapped things up.
After the final game, Atkinson, an all-tournament selection, was suffering from the memory of some lost opportunities by his team down the stretch.
“There were a whole lot of key plays,” he said. “We weren’t hitting our free throws and me personally, I missed a whole lot of easy layups. Elhadji was out there to play ball, he was hitting all of his shots.”
N'Daiye led Wakefield (9-2) with 18 points with Atkinson recording 17. Rashad Green with 21 and Danny Green with 20 led the Gaels (7-1),
St. Mary’s assistant coach Jim Fenton spoke in place of head coach Tim Cluess, who missed the tournament because of an illness in his family.
“We struggled a lot tonight and that was because they (Wakefield) made us struggle,” he said. “You have to respect every kid on that team. They were well prepared and well coached. It was a battle. I’ll take games like this 100 times in a row.”
Pinecrest took a 20-14 lead early in the second quarter against East Chapel Hill. But a poor shooting night plus the treys by Mangum and a 10-point second quarter by the 6-5, 215-pound Roberson led to an 11-0 Wildcat run that put the Patriots down for the count early.
Mangum finished with 22 points and Roberson 16. Antwon Murchison recorded his second straight double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Patriot coach Mike Apple says he will be glad to get his team back on the practice court after back-to-back losses that relegated his team to fourth place in the tournament.
“We started out with good energy, but after the game last night (a 98-58 loss to St. Mary’s), we couldn’t maintain it,” he said. “We’re having a hard time scoring right now. As inexperienced as we are, we had three games in a row without a practice. By the third game, the fundamentals weren’t real sound. We’ve got two days to work on it before Richmond (tonight at 7 p.m.).”
St. Mary’s 66 Wakefield 59
Wakefield — London 0 0-0 0, Atkinson 7 3-5 17, Coston 3 0-1 8, N’Daiye 7 3-6 18, Carlisle 6 0-0 14, Allen 1 0-0 2. Totals - 24 6-13 59.
St. Mary’s — Montalvo 1 0-0 2, D. Green 9 2-3 20, Ager 5 0-2 12, Johnson 3 2-4 8, R. Green 7 6-8 21; Joseph-Pauline 1 1-2 3. Totals - 25 11-19 66.
Three-point goals: Wakefield 5 (Carlisle 2, Coston 2, N’Daiye); St. Mary’s 4 (Ager 2, D. Green, R. Green).
East Chapel Hill 81 Pinecrest 54
East Chapel Hill — Mangum 7 2-2 22, Belton 3 0-0 6, Noel 4 0-3 6, W. Roberson 8 4-7 20, McCray 2 2-3 6, B. Roberson 2 2-2 6, McMahon 2 3-4 8, Meister 0 0-0 0, Daye 4 0-0 8. Totals - 31 13-21 81.
Pinecrest — Hailey 1 0-0 3, McLaurin 2 0-0 5, McKnight 3 5-7 11, Covington 4 0-0 8, Murchison 6 1-4 13, Gribben 1 0-0 3, Chalmers 2 0-0 6, J. Lewis 1 0-0 3, Jones 1 0-0 2, Cain 0 0-0 0, Nelson 0 0-0 0, S. Lewis 0 0-0 0, Gatling 0 0-0 0, McSwain 0 0-0 0. Totals - 21 6-11 54.
Three-point goals: East Chapel Hill 7 (Mangum 6, McMahon); Pinecrest 6 (Chalmers 2, Hailey, McLaurin, Gribben, J. Lewis).
