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The Southside Virginia Community College men’s basketball team took advantage of the cross-bracket format to overcome an opening round lost and capture the National Collegiate West Prep title in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina over the weekend.

The USA National Prep title is the fourth in school history for SVCC after having also captured championships in 2015,2016 and 2017.

The victory completed an 11-5 campaign for the Panthers.

“Coach (Vincent) Brown and I knew this was a special group,” said SVCC head coach Dennis Smith. “We felt we were battle tested coming into the tournament and our team responded and played some very good basketball. We are extremely proud of our young men.”

After falling to Winston Salem Christian in the opener, SVCC rebounded in must-win games in the West bracket to top Flight 22 Premier Prep and Tennessee Prep to capture the championship.

In the title game, SVCC got off to a good start against Tennessee Prep as Tae Homes scored seven of the team’s first 10 points as the Panthers’ opened up a 10-6 lead on a trey by Holmes at the 12:08 mark.

A bucket by DeAndre Miles at the 4:39 mark knotted the score at 17 but TPA went on an 8-0 run before Nile Atwater buried a trey in the final 10 seconds for SVCC to cut the lead to 25-20 at the halftime break.

Another trey by Atwater got the second half off to a great start for the local team. A 3-point play by Atwater and a trey by Holmes gave SVCC its first lead of the half at the 16:25 mark.

Two straight buckets by Miles extended the SVCC lead to 37-31 at the 12:22 mark.

Buckets by Aaron Logan, Miles, Lanthony Joyner and a trey by Atwater gave SVCC a 55-47 lead at the 6:29 mark.

A trey by Holmes extended the lead to 58- 47 at the 4:26 mark and SVCC hit 4 of 5 from the line over the final 43 seconds to seal the victory.

Miles was selected as the MVP of the tournament and named to the USA National Prep All-American team after averaging 25.0 points and 12.3 rebounds over the three games. He scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds with five assists and four blocks in the title game while Atwater totaled 18 points and snagged six boards and Holmes finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Isiah Thompson tallied seven assists and scored four points for the Panthers while Joyner grabbed 12 rebounds and scored four points.

SVCC……20 43 – 63

TNP………25 27 – 52

SVCC – Thompson 4, Miles 19, Holmes 16, Logan 2, Joyner 6, Atwater 18.

SVCC, 67-57

SVCC came out on fire on Friday afternoon, jumping out to a 16-4 lead at the 10:15 mark of the opening half against Flight 22 Premier Prep on a bucket by Miles.

A trey by Joseph Jiggetts gave the local team a 21-10 lead at the 7:54 mark of the first half.

Flight 22 made a run to get back in the game but SVCC got a 3-point play from Miles and a trey from Holmes to take a 34-27 lead to the halftime break.

The local team got a trey from Miles early in the second half to open up a 39-28 lead at the 16:44 mark.

Two straight buckets by Logan extended the SVCC lead to 51-41 at the 8:09 mark.

Elite 22 hit two treys with under two minutes to play to trim the SVCC lead to 58-54 but Miles scored on a runner at the 1:46 mark and SVCC hit 5 of 7 from the charity stripe over the final minute to seal the victory.

Miles led SVCC with 27 points and 14 rebounds in the contest while Holmes scored 14 points and added six rebounds. Marquise Petty grabbed nine rebounds in the victory for the local team while Joyner added eight.

Petty sustained a broken foot late in the game.

SVCC….34 33 – 67

F22…….27 30 – 57

SVCC – Thompson 3, Miles 27, Holmes 14, Petty 4, Logan 8, Joyner 3, Atwater 5, Jiggetts 3.

WSC, 84-73

SVCC ran into a hot shooting Winston Salem Christian team in their tourney opener, falling by an 84-73 score.

The Panthers got off to a good start in the first half taking a 20-14 lead at the 9:16 mark on a trey by Atwater.

WSC answered with a 25-8 run to open up a double-digit lead before SVCC cut the lead to 45-36 at the 2:11 mark on a bucket by Logan.

WSC took a 52-41 lead to the halftime break.

SVCC trailed by as many as 14 in the second half before buckets by Thompson, Miles and Petty cut the lead to 71- 65 with 5:29 left to play.

The local team had a chance to cut further into the lead but could not take advantage of their opportunities.

Miles led SVCC with 30 points and 12 rebounds while Holmes scored 13 points and added five assists and Thompson finished with eight points and seven assists.

Cole Sinclair hit eight treys and led WSC with 34 points.

WSC……..52 32 – 84

SVCC……41 32 – 73

SVCC – Thompson 9, Miles 30, Holmes 13, Petty 4, Logan 6, Joyner 6, Atwater 3, Copeland 2.