Get your own Free Home PageThe Golden Eagles won their end of the Marvin Webster Jr. Classic, held at the Smith gymnasium last Saturday night, cruising to a 58-44 victory over Lee County.
A 17-point performance by senior forward Sean Mapp and a swarming defense that caused 21 Lee County turnovers sealed the victory for BLS.
Webster, a Smith alumnus, played the center position for the Golden Eagles during their championship run in 1994-95 season. After his graduation in 1996, Webster attended Temple, but his life was cut short when he suffered a massive heart attack in August 1997. The tournament was engineered by Carl Porter, an assistant coach for that 1994-95 squad, and all proceeds went to a scholarship fund in Webster's name.
The first quarter saw a shortage of scoring on both sides, but BLS came out of the period with an 8-5 lead. In the second period BLS led by as much as seven points. However, a three-pointer by Lee County's Damien Williams keyed a seven-point run that gave Lee its first and only lead at 19-16.
Following a dunk by Mapp in the closing seconds of the half, BLS took a 24-21 lead.
"Quintin (Jackson) got the steal, I had a wide-open lane and I just went in and I tried to jump as high as I could," Mapp said. "I had a whole bunch of adrenaline flowing right then and it felt good."
The Eagles went into cruise control in the third quarter. The crucial play came when Justin Smith fouled senior forward Justin Ellerbe as he was attempting a dunk, but Smith also received a technical after making a comment to the referee. Ellerbe, who finished with 14 points, sank all four free throws to give BLS a 43-36 lead with 15 seconds remaining in the period. Shortly thereafter, Mapp drilled a three making the score 46-36, thus giving Smith its first double-digit lead of the night. Lee County trailed for the remainder of the game.
"It meant a lot to me because Marvin was a great basketball player and he passed, so to me it was a matter of respect to go out and play as hard as I could just in his memory," Mapp said.
The BLS victory ws accompanied by a display of respect for Webster. Reggie Peace, who coached Webster for four years at Smith, commented on Lee County being invited to the tournament.
"I have a photo of Marvin on my mantle that I look at every morning before I go to work," Peace said. "It's an honor that Smith invited us to play in this game and even though we lost, this will be a special night that I will remember fondly."
Senior center Kendrick Hamilton also added 14 points. The high scorer for Lee County was Jay Farron, who finished with 15 points.
In the first game of the night, Mount Tabor defeated Grimsley 80-64 as Ronnie Guerrero scored 27 points.
On Tuesday night, Smith scored a 64-51 win over cross-town rival Page. Ellerbe, rated as one of the top 15 players in the state by Blue Ribbon College Yearbook, had 22 points.
The Golden Eagles held UNC-Wilmington signee Brandon Clifford to 14 points. Smith led 11-4 at the end of the first quarter and had an 11-0 run in the second quarter to gain a large lead. BLS led 32-22 at halftime. The Eagles stretched the advantage to 13 by the end of the third.
Smith's girls opened with a 72-60 win behind 21 points and 10 rebounds by Jackie Wood.
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