Grovetown defeats Glenn Hills in tip-off tournament action

Grovetown used a 10-0 spurt, spanning from the end of the third quarter to the beginning of the fourth, to coast to a 64-55 win over Glenn Hills in Saturday's tip-off tournament at Evans. The Warriors improved to 2-0 for the young season. Glenn Hills is winless after two games.

The Spartans led 24-17 in the second quarter due to 3 early three pointers and solid play from sophomore center Timmy Sellers. But Grovetown came out of its zone and used a full court trap to force turnovers and get easy scores. Shamar Barrett finished with his left hand after a steal near the end of the second quarter to give Grovetown a 30-27 lead, and the Warriors would take a 33-30 advantage into halftime.

With Grovetown leading by 1 late in the third quarter, sophomore Eric Graham made a pair of plays: first a score on a baseline inbound pass, and next an assist on a Trent Bowdre three. Rudy Valentine then followed with a runner just before the third quarter buzzer to put the Warriors ahead 47-39.

Graham led all scorers with 17 points, and Barrett added 15.

I'll see Grovetown play Laney Saturday at Paine College in the 100 Black Men Thanksgiving Tournament.

I plan to post two or three more game reports from last weekend's tip-off tournaments before the weekend. And of course I'll be at Paine for the high school games Friday and Saturday. Happy Thanksgiving.