St. Sebastian’s Tournament – Event Recap

NewEnglandRecruitingReport.com | Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

Nobles made an impressive statement on Thursday as they advanced to Friday’s final by defeating Rivers in the opening round and then a very tough Holderness team in the semi-finals.   

The 10:30 a.m. game between Nobles and Rivers kicked off the tournament.  Both teams showed some initial rust after their holiday lay-off as they battled through a low scoring first half.  But in the second Tucker Halpern took over scoring 16 of his game high 24 points to lead his team to an easy victory.  Senior forward Henry Eisenhart and sophomore big man John Bullitt played well for Rivers in the loss. 

In the second game of the day Holderness overwhelmed Belmont Hill with their depth and seemingly endless full-court pressure defense.  Alex Francis set the tone early scoring his team’s first six points showing his tremendous athleticism around the rim, including a monstrous two handed dunk in transition.  Vytas Kriskus was also very impressive as he continued to shoot a very high percentage from behind the three-point line. 

With their respective victories, Nobles and Holderness set up a much anticipated semi-finals match-up for the evening session.  Tucker Halpern made several big plays down the stretch in a game that went right down to the wire.  In addition to shooting the ball tremendously well throughout the entire 32 minutes of action, the junior forward also came up with some key rebounds and a crucial blocked shot in the game’s final minutes.  Another big factor in the game was Nobles’ ability to control the tempo as they prevented Holderness from getting many easy points with their very dangerous transition offense. 

On the other side of the bracket St. Sebastian’s and the Master’s School were set to meet up in the night’s last semi-final game.  The backcourt duo of Cory Willis and Greg Jacques proved to be too much for Roxbury Latin as the home team ran away with their opening round game 60-39.  Meanwhile, David Gibbs n’company were able to defeat Hebron despite the return of Jordan Payton to the lineup. 

Tomorrow’s action will again begin at 10:30 a.m. with games in the loser’s bracket.  Nobles will look to hold off the winner of the St. Sebastian’s/Master’s game in the championship game scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.