Basketball was the name of the game at Tyler Consolidated High School last week as the Boggs Roundball Classic basketball tournament was held over a three day period. The tournament featured four high school boys varsity teams, two boys freshmen teams and four varsity girls teams.

“We had a good turn out and there was some great basketball played,” said Silver Knight head coach, J.C. Kimble. “We appreciate everybody coming out and supporting the kids and the tournament. We’d like to thank the other teams for participating, their fans for supporting them, and a major thank you to the sponsor of the tournament, Boggs Pizza and Grill.”

Participating on the varsity boys side of the tournament were Magnolia, Scott, Wheeling Central as well as the Silver Knights. The Scott Skyhawks showed some excellent skills on the court and wound up with the championship trophy when all was said and done.

The boys competition began on Friday with Scott taking on Wheeling Central in the first game. Though the first half was close, Scott pulled away in the second half, taking the win and sending the Maroon Knights to the consolation match.

In the second game on Friday, the Silver Knights took on the Blue Eagles of Magnolia, hoping to keep the game a close one with their usual rivals. The Big Blue had other plans though as they dominated the inside game and took risks that paid off on the outside. Magnolia had the lead, 19-8 at the end of the first period of play, stretching it to 32-18 by the half.

The Blue Eagles put 23 points on their side of the scoreboard in the third stanza while holding the Knights to 12, eventually taking the win, 67-40, guaranteeing their slot in the championship game.

Senior Corey Lowe was the leading scorer for the Silver in the game with eight points. Lowe was also credited with two rebounds and two assists. Drew Casey came on strong for Consolidated in this game,

scoring seven points and pulling down four boards. Boone Kehrer added six points, had two rebounds, three assists and one steal; Skylar Kinnard scored four, and had one rebound; B.J. Eastham scored four points and pulled down three rebounds; Hunter LeMasters added four points and two rebounds; Dylan Romine totaled four points; Evan Cline scored two points, had one rebound, one steal and one assist; Zack Knowlton scored one, was credited with two rebounds and one assist; Justin Carpenter had one rebound; and Darren Heintzman pulled down five boards.

On Saturday the Silver Knights took on the Maroon Knights of Wheeling Central in the consolation game, more determined than ever to show their best. Consolidated played even with Central in the first period of the game, finishing the first period knotted at 17. In the second period, the Silver were stymied by Central’s defense, scoring only 12 to their opponents 24 putting the score at the half, 41-17.

Central came out strong in the second half, holding the home team to only four points while bucketing 22 points themselves. The final outcome of the game, 72-43, had the Silver Knights falling to the bottom place finisher in the boys tournament.

“We didn’t play our best ball, but we also played two very good teams,” said Kimble. “We had our moments, and several of kids stepped up to the plate when we called on them. We didn’t get a win, but it was a good tournament and good competition.”

Lowe again led all Knight scorers in the game with 16 points. He also stole the ball five times, had one assist and two rebounds. Knowlton added 10 points to the Knight score and brought down five rebounds. Kehrer totaled seven points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal; Scott Sole scored five points; Cline scored three, was credited with three assists and one rebound; Heintzman added two points; Romine brought down two rebounds and was credited with one assist and a steal; LeMasters pulled down two boards, and had one assist and one steal; Kinnard, one rebound, one steal; Casey, one rebound, one steal; and Eastham had one rebound.

In the championship game on Saturday night, the Scott Skyhawks handed the loss to the Blue Eagles of Magnolia by a 71-52 margin to take home the tournament championship trophy.

On Jan. 13 the opening game of the entire tournament featured the John Marshall Lady Monarchs against the Lady Cougars of Frontier. In a physical game, the Monarchs took the win, sending Frontier to the consolation round.

In the second game, the Lady Knights of Tyler Consolidated took on the Lady Eagles of Magnolia in a determined effort to get to the championship game. Starting out just a little sluggish, the Silver and Black came up short in the scoring department, finishing the first period behind, 11-15. By the half, the Consolidated team had played to a one point default, 28-29.

“We played right with them, but we know we could have done a better job at times,” said Lady Knight head coach, Matt Kinnard. “We had a few lapses and a few forgetful moments, but once we got our heads in the game, we played well. Especially in the second half.”

The third period of the game told the story of the outcome as the Knights and Eagles matched each other basket for basket, point for point in the effort. By the end of the third period of play the teams were tied at 42-42 with the slate basically wiped clean for the fourth quarter. In an excellent effort by the Lady Knights, they held on for the 57-54 win to send them to the title game on Saturday.

Junior Sami Jones led all scorers in the game with 22 points. She also pulled down 14 boards and was credited with four steals in the game. Senior Heather Suter added seven points to the Knight scoreboard. She had 10 rebounds, two assists and a steal as well. Whitney Williams scored six points and had one steal; Sophie Kinnard added six points, 10 boards, four assists and a steal; Lynsey Casteel totaled five points, pulled down five boards and stole the ball once; Torrye Cline added five points, had one rebound and two steals; Sydney Reed scored four points, had three rebounds and a steal; Maddi Schlabowski added two points; and Tiffany Kernan brought down two rebounds.

Padyn Ludwig was the leading scorer for the Lady Blue Eagles with 19 points.

On Saturday in the consolation game between Frontier and Magnolia, the Lady Cougars took the win over the Lady Eagles. In the championship match-up, Tyler Consolidated was pitted against the strength of the Lady Monarchs of John Marshall.

The Brown and Gold got off to a great start while the ball just did not seem to want to drop for the Silver, putting the score at 14-27 after one and 44-20 at the half with the Lady Knights on the short end of the score.

Though they turned in a better effort in the second half, it was too-little-too-late to make a difference and the Consolidated Lady Knights took home second place in the tournament after the 76-55 loss.

“We played well in the second half, but still found ourselves not helping out our team mates when we should have,” coach Kinnard said. “Overall I was pleased with how we played throughout the tournament. I feel we should have connected on more of our lay-ups and we need to be stepping into the ball more, but overall, we played well.”

Freshman Sophie Kinnard was the top Lady Knight scorer with 11 points. She also had five rebounds, four assists, and one steal in the game. Jones added 10 points in the effort, pulling down six boards and was credited with five assists. Suter scored nine, had four boards and three steals; Cline scored eight points, pulled down eight boards, had one assist and one steal; Schlabowski totaled five points, had five rebounds and stole the ball once; Casteel, four points, and four rebounds; Allison Wable, two points, two boards; Kernan, two points; Williams, two points and one rebound; Myah Charkawi, two points; and Reed stole the ball once and had two rebounds.

The tournament was deemed a success not only by the teams participating and the coaches, but the fans as well.

The Lady Knights will travel to Newell on Thursday to take on the Lady Bears of Oak Glen and will have a noon meeting with the Red Devils at Ravenswood on Saturday. The team will play host to Ritchie County on Jan. 25 and to Williamstown on Jan. 27.

It’s on the road again as well for the Knight boys as they will travel to Williamstown on Friday and head to the Region I Classic tournament on Jan. 29.