Roanoke, Va. – Coach Bill Pope and the Northside Vikings are the defending champs of their home invitational for the past eight years. Entering the 24th year of the tournament, the field was tougher than ever. It sported three undefeated teams: Rustburg, Tunstall and William Byrd, and a couple more with just one loss--including Northside.
In the Vikings semifinal matchup with Rustburg, the home team got out to a comfortable lead early, but Rustburg hung around, and it turned out--they would spoil the streak. The Red Devils got key buckets by Terrance Parrish and Tayvon Vassal-Crider and clutch free throw shooting by Elijah Sherard in the 66-62 win. Sherard hit eight straight free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
In the other tournament semifinal, Tunstall downs LCA 68-43. Rustburg will face Tunstall Friday night at 7:45 for the title. LCA gets Northside at 6 p.m. in the third-place game.