Whitehaven takes down Northmont, wins Great 8 title

The Whitehaven Tigers took a long trip to get to Jefferson City. The squad from Memphis, Tenn., left on a very happy note, as they took down the Northmont Thunderbolts 70-38 to win the Great 8 Classic championship Friday night at Fleming Fieldhouse.

The Tigers came out fairly slow to begin the game. They trailed for the entire first quarter which ended with a 17-15 score. However, Whitehaven quickly overcame the slow start in the second quarter, building up a 39-23 halftime lead. That lead eventually grew to a 63-36 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

"We came out after a big game last night against Helias, we had a packed house, they had a lot of support here, and we were very high from the game," Whitehaven coach Faraqi Phillips said. "Coming back in tonight, my thing was to get (the team) settled down and know that that was not a championship game. That was a semifinal game. We kinda got locked in. It was a slow start, but after a three-day period and having to play a lot of good competition, it wasn't something that I was concerned about."

One of the major factors leading to Whitehaven's blowout victory was an extremely strong effort on the defensive end. Phillips noted a strong emphasis on defense is one of the strengths of his team.

"I teach defense as much as I teach offense," Phillips said. "We actually talk to our coaching staff to teach the proper technique of on-the-ball defense and help defense. We teach those things like we teach anything else."

Whitehaven's junior guard Marquavious Lobbings led all scorers with 23 points, a majority of those coming in the third quarter as the Tigers pulled away. Junior guard Rayshad Williams and junior forward Cameron Jones both scored 14 points. Those three provided the majority of scoring punch for the Tigers on Friday.

"We have a plethora of guys who can put the ball in the basket," Phillips said. "I actually have three guys that come off the bench who can start for me. We're fortunate enough to have some depth that we can bring off the bench who could easily start for us."

For his efforts throughout the Classic, Jones was named MVP. Lobbings and Williams were named to the all-tournament team.

"I think this tournament us boost our confidence up and to let us overcome all the battles and the situations we've been through before," Jones said.

On the other side, Northmont could not overcome Whitehaven's strong defense, struggling mightily to score points. The Thunderbolts only scored 15  points after halftime.

The majority of Northmont's scoring was divided between senior guard Rodney Richardson, who scored 11 points, and senior forward Vinson Walker, who scored 10 points.

Unfortunately, Northmont could not find enough scoring balance to compete with Whitehaven.

After the game, Phillips noted his appreciation for all of the resources the tournament gave him during his team's brief time in Jefferson City.

"The tournament, the people that have been helping us, have been very gracious. Very nice people," Phillips said. "The tournament was very professional. I think anything I needed or requested, they were there right at my beck-and-call and we're very appreciative of our time here."