Harry Giles of High Point Wesleyan Christian (N.C.) dunks against Louisville Trinity (Ky.) in the 42nd Annual Culligan City of Palms Classic on Dec. 23 in Fort Myers, Florida.
(Photo: Amanda Inscore /The News-Press)
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Behind 15 points from Wake Forest commit Brandon Childress, No. 8 Wesleyan Christian (High Point, N.C.) downed Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland 59-49 Friday night in the second semifinal of the Tournament of Champions.
Childress scored 12 of his points in the fourth quarter on four three-pointers. He added five points and seven assists.
Harry Giles II had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Kwe Parker had 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists; and Jalen Johnson scored 10 to boost the Trojans.
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For O’Dowd, Ivan Rabb had 14 points and 13 rebounds and Paris Austin added 15 points.
Saturday’s title game will put Welseyan Christian against No. 6 Oak Hill (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) at 10 p.m. (CBS Sports Network). Oak Hill beat Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) 86-59 on Friday.
Consolation round
The Friday consolation round of the Tournament of Champions proved just as unkind to the two Missouri teams in the field as the opening round had been.
Parkview took a 61-45 loss to Chino Hills, Calif., while Bentonville, Ark., defeated Waynesville 47-28 in a game where scoring took a backseat to zone defenses. Parkview played without leading scorer Autry Acord, who sat out with a knee injury, and Indiana commit Juwan Morgan hobbled on an injured leg after suffering a contusion Thursday night.
Morgan looked unaffected at first, scoring four of his seven points on turnaround jump shots in the first 1:16.
“I was feeling good because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do much driving, I relied on other aspects of my game,” Morgan said. “I can’t be as aggressive as I want to.”
Morgan’s shooting cooled as Bentonville’s Malik Monk heated his scoring. Monk missed five shots before scoring his first field goal of the game on an alley oop dunk in the final minute of the first half. Monk found scoring success by getting fouled and shooting a perfect 10-for-10 in free throws.
“I tried to get to the line and get in the lane to get my rhythm right,” Monk said.
On defense, Monk directed traffic for a match-up zone that stymied Waynesville’s offense.
“We didn’t know what it was at first because they would follow you and then they would stop, and it gave us a little bit of a problem because we haven’t seen a match-up zone as good as that one,” Morgan said.
Monk is a junior with scholarship offers from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Baylor, but says he isn’t likely to make a college commitment during his junior season.
“I’m concentrating on Bentonville, I’ve got one more year. I’m just trying to have fun with my teammates and be a kid,” Monk said.
A junior committed verbally to UCLA allowed Chino Hills to beat Parkview. Lonzo Ball scored 29 points, and 18 of them came in the fourth quarter against the Vikings. Ball, a point guard, scored nine first-half points while his brother, LiAngelo, scored 11 in the first quarter. UCLA coach Steve Alford was in the stands.
“I thought he was deferring a lot,” Huskies coach Steve Baik said of Lonzo Ball, “and then he recognized, ‘Okay, the rest of you guys aren’t making shots, it’ll be my turn now.'”
Senior Connor Ratcliff scored 18 points for Parkview in the loss in Acord’s absence.
“Connor stepped up and it was nice to see that. That’s just part of sports, kids get hurt and injured and somebody has got to step up, and it’s nice to see him have a good game,” Brown said.
Acord, who averages more than 22 points per game, will try to play Saturday against Waynesville in the Tournament of Champions seventh place game at 3:30 p.m. Chino Hills faces Bentonville in the consolation final at 5 p.m.
