Queen City Holiday Classic: Christ School 75, Vance 66

Vance’s boys basketball team had been on quite a roll heading into the holiday break.

But Cougars coach Brain Frasier knows that there’s still some work to do with his team.

That became evident after Vance’s 75-66 loss to Arden’s Christ School in the opening game of the Queen City Holiday Classic tournament Monday at Vance High School.

Cameron Hamilton scored a game-high 22 points, teammate Markus Neal added 21 and Eric Edwards 13 for Vance, which had won eight of its past nine games before the tournament.

But the Cougars – ranked 15th in the latest Sweet 16 poll – struggled against the Greenies’ inside-out game, with four players finishing in double figures for Christ School.

“We’re so small and have to exert so much energy to be successful,” Frasier said. “The kids don’t understand that yet, but they’ll get it towards the end of the season.”

John Fulkerson, a 6-foot-9 Tennessee commit, had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Greenies, a quarterfinalist in last season’s NCISAA 3A state playoffs.

Matt Halvorsen hit four 3-pointers and finished with 17 points, and Justin Rhode and William Fleming added 10 each.

Down 34-30 at the halftime break, Vance managed to tie the score at 38 on Hamilton’s 3-pointer with 6 minutes, 22 seconds left in the third quarter. But Christ School responded with a 24-6 run to close out the quarter for a 62-46 lead.

The Greenies were still up 18 points, 71-53, with less than four minutes remaining when the Cougars began their own run, outscoring Christ School 13-4.

“The first half, we were a little discombobulated,” Frasier said. “We couldn’t get organized, we just couldn’t get to play the way we play. I think it was the vacation thing … and we haven’t been able to practice as much as we wanted to.

“We did pull a stretch there in the second (half), but it wasn’t enough to close out the game.”

Records: Christ School 8-4, Vance 9-4.

Worth mentioning: In addition to the double-double, Fulkerson also had seven blocked shots – six of those coming in the second half. … Led by Fulkerson, the Greenies outrebounded Vance 41-33. … Cougars senior Devin Teah had 11 rebounds.

Monday’s Roundup

Carmel Christian 62, Northwood 35: 6-10 center Mac Brydon had 12 points and seven rebounds and Carmel got double figure scoring from Myles Pierre (12), Brett Swilling (11) and Roland Whitney (10) in an easy win. Northwood scored just 13 points in the second half.

Cape Henry 70, Hopewell 53: Dajour Rucker had 22 points and Mark Semman 18 to lead Cape Henry to an easy win. Chris Lewis and Jaylon Acker had 11 each for Hopewell.

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 10:09 PM with the headline "Queen City Holiday Classic: Christ School 75, Vance 66."