Christmas Classic hoops a success

Hundreds upon hundreds made the trip to Cameron this past Thursday and Friday for the Cameron Chamber Christmas Classic Basketball Tournament. The tournament was not only a success for the community, but also for both Cameron teams, as the Lady Yoe managed to pick up a third place finish while the boys finished in second overall.

Complete Pool Play Results

Girls

Pool A: Cameron 49, Florence 26; Lanier 58, Florence 18; Cameron 47 Lanier 45

Pool B: West 42, Iola 35; Austin Crockett 68, Iola 20; Austin Crockett 59 West 52

Pool C: McGregor 60, Holland 43; Holland 52, Austin Travis 13; McGregor 69, Austin Travis 35

Pool D: Snook 58, Rosebud-Lott 23; Rosebud-Lott 55, Buffalo 54; Snook 52, Buffalo 37

Number 1 Seeds: Cameron (2-0), Austin Crockett (2-0), McGregor (2-0), Snook (2-0)

Boys

Pool A: Snook 66, Bryan JV 45; Snook 72, McGregor 57; Bryan JV 72, McGregor 71

Pool B: Marble Falls 62, Taylor 50; Giddings 62, Taylor 43; Marble Falls, Giddings 42

Pool C: Holland 53, Smithville 47; Cameron Yoe 74, Smithville 63; Cameron Yoe 79, Holland 74

Pool D: Whitney 66, Shoemaker JV 62; Whitney 51, Rockdale 50; Shoemaker JV 59, Rockdale 54

Number 1 Seeds: Snook (2-0), Marble Falls (2-0), Cameron Yoe (2-0), Whitney (2-0)

Girls

Cameron opened the tournament on a strong note, picking up wins over Florence (49-26) and Austin Lanier (47-45).

“I thought we got off a sluggish start this morning with our opening game with Florence, but we turned it on in the second half to pull away from them,” said Cunningahm on his team’s opening win. “My message to them at halftime was to not just get the win, but go out there in the second half and get some positives that we can take to the second game. We did that.”

Against Lanier, the Lady Yoe had to battle back multiple times, including heading into the final period.

“The key word is resilience,” said Cunningham. “We got down 7 going into the fourth, and were down 5 with 50 something seconds left, but we took it one possession at a time. In the timeouts I emphasized getting defensive stops. The team really responded with stops and that gave us a chance on the offensive end.”

In the first semi final, Cameron hung tough with Austin Crockett at the half, 14-14, but could not keep pace in the second half in a 48-32 loss. Cameron did rebound in the third place game,

erasing what was a 10-point deficit in the first to get by McGregor for the second time this season, 40-37.

Crockett advanced on the finals to take on Snook, which got by McGregor in the other semifinal.  

That game was a low-scoring, hard-fought affair, which saw the Lady Jays pull out a 30-23 win. Snook’s senior captain Courtney Maass was named MVP of the championship game.

“We have been here twice before and have not done so good, but we have some new girls and we are playing really good as a team,” said Maass. “We knew we had a chance to be here and we played really good.

She also noted how the road to the championship was not easy and it took a toll on both teams’ performance in the finale.

“We played played three hard games and then you get into this fourth game and your legs are kind of tired, but you push through,” said Maass, who had 14 points. “We knew this was our game to win. That is all you can ask for.”

Boys

Just like the girls, the the Yoemen managed to finish a perfect 2-0 in pool play with wins over Smithville (74-63) and then again with Holland (79-74).

Burns was pleased with his team in their opening win.

“We came out with tons of intensity versus Smithville and put up our biggest point total of the year,” said the coach.

The Holland win was not as comfortable as Cameron trailed 40-26 before mounting an improbable comeback late.

“We had that four hour break in between games and before the Holland game I could tell by the way we were warming up it was going to carry into the game,” said Burns. “There was not a lot intensity and that carried over into the first half and then in the second half we turned on a switch.”

With just 7 seconds left in the fourth, sophomore Kobe Young sank a three-point shot to send the game into overtime where the Yoemen took control.

“I was struggling the whole game and we needed a shot, I took it, and it went in,” said Young. “We started real slow and we had a bad warmup. The second half we were able to turn it on and come up with the win.”

In the semifinals with Whitney, Cameron simply had no problems in the 78-50 win. A total of 4 different Yoemen recorded double-digit efforts to send Cameron to the championship. In the other semifinal, Marble Falls edged out Snook in what was a rematch of last year’s championship game.

Cameron seemed like they had simply run out of gas in the championship, as Marble Falls grew an early lead and continued to pile on throughout in a 76-43 win.

Mustang junior center Andrew Stripling was named the MVP.

“It was good for us to win because we had been losing some,” said Stripling. “We played some good teams. Cameron was good but we played really well.”

Stripling also noted that he felt his team’s road to the championship was a little tougher in 2017 as opposed to 2016.

“It was a little tougher this year,” said the 6’5” big man. “We had a couple of close games early and it is good to get our confidence back. Personally, I was shooting really well. I was getting rebounds and attacking the glass.”