Friday’s Boys Roundup: Isaac Suffren, No. 3 Providence Day, take down No. 1 Cox Mill

Elevator

↑Marcus Henderson, Statesville Christian: junior guard (with the ‘And-1’ finish below) had 13 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds in a 79-47 win over Oceanside Collegiate. Statesville Christian is 13-0, a school-best start, and plays at the HBC Palm Beaches tournament in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, next week.

↑Luke Bracey, Rock Hill: Bracey, a 6-foot-4 eighth grader, led Rock Hill with 14 points in a 64-51 loss to Greeneville (Tenn) at the YC Winborn Classic Thursday.

↑Morganton Freedom: Patriots beat rival Morganton Patton 81-67 Friday. Freedom is 22-0 all-time against Patton.

↑Byron Dinkins, Carmel Christian: won his 200th game Friday in the semifinals of the Queen City Clash. Carmel Christian beat Charlotte Liberty Heights 85-82.

↓Queen City holiday tournaments: Too many tournaments in town named Queen City something this week. Hard to keep up.

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Friday’s #BIG5 Performers

Isaac Suffren, Providence Day: 24 points, on 9-of-13 shooting, in a 63-52 win over Sweet 16 No. 1 and nationally ranked Cox Mill. Suffren made 4-of-7 3-point attempts, had a game-high 14 rebounds and two assists. After the game, he got a college scholarship offer from Drexel University of the Colonial Athletic Association. He also got a lot of kudos on Twitter, like this:

Donovan Gregory, Carmel Christian: 29 points, 11 rebounds, four assists in a 85-82 win over Charlotte Liberty Heights.

Jairus Hamilton, Alex Cox, Concord Cannon School: Cannon beat Westtown (PA) and Duke recruit Cam Reddish 62-60 in overtime at the Chick-Fil-A Classic Friday. Hamilton had 24 points, 10 rebounds. Cox made 6-of-11 3-point attempts and had 24 points and four rebounds. Reddish finished with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds.

Check Traore, Concord First Assembly: 22 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks in a 77-64 win over Ridgeway (Tenn) in the championship game of the Chick-Fil-A holiday classic in Elizabethtown, Tenn. Traore, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, was named tournament MVP. First Assembly outscored Ridgeway 28-12 in the fourth quarter to win. Teammates Stephen Edoka, Bailey Benham and Trae Benham made the all-tournament team for CFA (9-3).

Kody Shubert, Lincoln Charter: 34 points, nine assists in a 98-61 win over Porter Ridge at the Queen City Clash tournament. Teammates Jackson Gabriel made 6-of-11 3-point attempts and finished with 25 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals. Lincoln Charter bounced back from Thursday’s 67-40 loss to No. 4 Independence.

Sweet 16 Spotlight

No. 3 Providence Day 63, No. 1 Concord Cox Mill 52: The Chargers from Providence Day (11-4) avenged an earlier loss to the Chargers from Cox Mill (8-1) in the semifinals of the Chick-Fil-A Classic in Columbia. And they did it with defense. Cox Mill shot 30.6 percent for the game and made 2-of-19 3-point attempts as Providence Day worked hard to contest outside shooters. Kansas recruit Devon Dotson had 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks for Providence Day. Santa Clara recruit Trey Wertz finished with 16 points, two rebounds, two assists and a block. Moore and Leaky Black led Cox Mill. Moore was 6-for-23 shooting and finished with 18 points, six rebounds. Black was 9-for-21 shooting and finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds. Providence Day will play Gray Collegiate (9-1) of Columbia in Saturday’s championship game.

No. 4 Independence 49, Charlotte Country Day 43: The Patriots won on Country Day’s home floor in the semifinals of the Queen City Clash. Independence’s Matthew Smith had a monster game with 12 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks, two steals and two assists. Raja Milton had 11 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals for the Patriots, and Andra’ McKee added 13 points and three rebounds. DeAngelo Epps (11 points) and Alex Tabor (10) led Country Day.

No. 5 Butler 59, Clover (SC) 47: At the YC Winborn Classic in Rock Hill, Butler jumped out to a 21-9 first quarter lead and led 36-20 at halftime. Raquan Brown had 17 points and DJ Little finished with 11. Butler plays Byrnes (SC) or Greenefield (TN) in Saturday’s 8 p.m. championship game. Butler has won the tournament three years in a row.

No. 6 Morganton Freedom 81, Morganton Patton 67: Freedom (7-1) got an easy win on the road Friday, running up a 27-point lead at the end of the third quarter. Jakari Dula had 21 for Freedom, Michael Logan had 20 and Fletcher Abee 17. Tripp Causby had a game-high 32 points for Patton.

Friday’s Roundup

Carmel Christian 85, Charlotte Liberty Heights 82: Carmel kept a solid lead for much of the game in the semifinals of the Queen City Clash. The Cougars (13-1) will face No. 4 Independence in Saturday’s championship game at Charlotte Country Day School. On Friday, senior Liberty recruit Josh Price had 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds; and junior guard Myles Pierre had 21 points, five steals. Chris Martin had 34 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Liberty Heights.

Hickory Christian 74, Tri-City Christian 36: Hickory Christian shot 55 percent in the championship game of the Catawba Valley Christian School tournament. It held Tri-City to 27 percent shooting. Junior forward Andy Cook had 13 points and senior guard Aiden Smith 12 for Hickory Christian. Smith was 4-for-4 on 3-point shot attempts.

United Faith 85, Richland Northeast 35: The Falcons (8-5) held Richland Northeast (1-7) to 25 percent shooting in an easy win at the Chick-Fil-A Classic in Columbia. KC Hankton had 23 points, six rebounds, Rafael Jenkins had 21 points, four assists and UNC-Wilmington recruit Jaylen Sims had 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the win.

West Charlotte 67, Burlington Positive Day 50: The Lions got 25 points from Patrick Williams, 21 from Cartier Jernigan and 13 from Devontez Walker in a win at the Queen City Jingle Bell Classic at Olympic High. The Lions pulled away with a 19-9 run in the fourth quarter.

This story was originally published December 23, 2017 at 12:04 AM with the headline "Friday’s Boys Roundup: Isaac Suffren, No. 3 Providence Day, take down No. 1 Cox Mill."