By Sara Page, Midlothian Exchange
spage@midlothianexchange.com

Trinity Episcopal School plays host to a boys’ JV basketball tournament each year. Though it is a full and exhausting day for those involved, it gives each team exposure, competition and atmosphere that they wouldn’t normally find.

“I would almost make an analogy to a bowl game in football where you get a chance to play a team that otherwise you would never play and get recognition and have the spotlight on you for a couple hours,” Trinity coach Rick Hamlin said. “If you win, it’s really neat but if you don’t, it’s OK.”

In its 11th year, the tournament also provided fans with two very entertaining games, including the championship game. Trinity Episcopal and Elijah House Academy played to overtime before Elijah House pulled out a 61-57 win.

Though evenly matched, the teams played two very different styles.

Boasting a significant height advantage, the Titans took an early lead on three consecutive baskets by post players Tim Daly and Craig Almond.

Unable to use the post, Elijah House players used their speed to push the pace of the game and picked up most of their points off fast breaks.

“Having watched them this morning, with their quickness, I wasn’t sure we could stay with them, so we packed it in the zone, but I think the fact that we were playing zone caused us to not play with energy, so in the second half we sort of threw caution to the wind and picked them up [in man-to-man coverage] and also full court press. At that point we felt we had nothing to lose,” Hamlin said.

Down 26-20 at the half, the Titans forced four turnovers in the first two minutes of the second half, but both teams had a hard time finding the hoop in the third quarter.

Elijah House Academy’s Kharon Conway picked up two steals and two blocks to help keep Trinity off the board. Elijah House extended its lead to 10 by the end of the quarter behind three consecutive 3-point plays.

Trinity chipped away at the lead in the fourth quarter and tied the game with 2:01 left to play when Daly got a ball on the baseline and laid in the jumper.

Conway put Elijah House back up by three hitting the jumper and drawing a foul on the other end, but Trinity patiently worked the ball around in their offensive end.

Titan forward Jordan Allen drew his team within one, hitting both ends of a one-and-one bonus and Almond put Trinity back in the lead at 46-45 with 34 seconds left in regulation on a short jumper.

Conway tied the game from the foul line then pulled down a big defensive board on the other end. He raced down the court with time running out and made the layup at the buzzer but the Trinity guards got back in time to get their feet set for the defensive challenge. Conway was called for the charge, which sent the game into overtime.

The teams traded leads until two back-to-back buckets by Elijah House’s Darell Meredith put the team us 58-54 with 56 seconds left.

Conway and guard Glenn Booker added the final touches with three points from the foul line.

“Our two best ball handlers fouled out and that made it difficult for us to get a score,” Hamlin said. “Their quickness gave us problems. They got to the basket pretty well on us and they finished a lot of shots in the lane.”

Hamlin conceded that the team would like to have won the tournament but reiterated that they were happy for the opportunity to play.

“At the junior varsity level, the kids, they work very hard, I can promise you [that] … and they don’t get a whole lot of recognition. We don’t have an end-of-the-season tournament, so it’s just a nice chance for some of the younger guys to have a tournament atmosphere and play on kind of the big stage rather than just be a warm up for the varsity game. It’s an event that we have a great time hosting,” Hamlin said.

Conway led Elijah House with 18 points and 10 rebounds; Meredith ended with 15 points and 14 rebounds; and Booker put up 15 points.

Leading Trinity Episcopal was Daly with 20 points and nine rebounds and Almond with 12 points.

Named to the all-tournament team were Evan Greening from Pope John Paul the Great School; Carson Smith from the New Community School; Daly and Almond from Trinity; and Darell Meredith from Elijah House. Conway was named tournament most valuable player.

Other tournament scores were as follows:

Trinity Episcopal 74, New Community 16

Elijah House 64, Pope John Paul the Great 59

Pope John Paul the Great 110, New Community 35

Trinity Episcopal will host the girls’ side of its annual JV basketball invitational on Jan. 23 beginning at 9:30 a.m.