The Kenny Bass Holiday Classic wrapped up over the weekend with the Lady Titans from Trask High School claiming the girls championship and the Spartans from Union High School taking the Boy’s Championship. Sandwiched in the center of all the action was a special ceremony in which the Hobbton Athletic Department renamed the basketball court in honor of the glorified coach.
The road to the championship for the Lady Titans began on Thursday with a battle against Wilmington Christian Academy. In that game, Trask made quick work of the Lady Patriots. Trask took a punishing 19-2 lead after one quarter play, seemingly en route to a dominating victory. Wilmington Christian found their footing, though, and became a little more competitive but the Lady Titans still won convincingly, 62-35.
On the other side of the girls bracket, Union topped Hobbton 37-11 to set up the championship game against Trask.
In Friday’s consolation game against Wilmington Christian, the Lady Wildcats suffered another loss at 50-16 to to go 0-2 in the tournament and remain winless on the season.
Meanwhile, in the championship game, Trask earned the victory over Union in a low scoring affair. The advantage started out in the Lady Spartans favor, but the Lady Titans turned the tide and picked up the 30-21 win to claim the crown.
Over on the boys side of the brackets, Union’s title run began on Thursday with them taking on county nemesis Hobbton in the late game. Both the Wildcats and the Spartans entered the tournament winless on the season but it was Union that was able to complete the turnaround. The Spartans won or tied every quarter en route to posting a 79-47 victory over Hobbton.
The other boys game on Thursday was Wilmington Christian taking on Trask in which the Patriots knocked off the Titans, 63-44, to set them up with a date against Union in the championship.
In the consolation game on Friday, Trask kept the Wildcats winless with a 92-56 victory.
In the championship game, Union leaped out to a solid 18-3 lead in the first quarter over Wilmington Christian and never looked back. Even though the Patriots became more competitive throughout the remainder of the game, they couldn’t get over the hole they had dug for themselves in the first quarter as the Spartans claimed the crown, 70-49.
During the pregame of Thursday’s Hobbton versus Union boys game, Former Sampson County Board of Education member Dewain Sinclair led the presentation in honoring former coach Kenny Bass’s legacy during the court dedication.
In his remarks before a packed gymnasium, Bass thanked the community, his former players, retired football coach Al Britt, and retired baseball coach Jimmy Byrd. He told the crowd that he credited his wife for raising his two children while he was helping to raise a lot of others.
With the conclusion of the tournament, the Hobbton teams will now enjoy a week off from competition before resuming play on Tuesday, Jan. 8. Both teams sit at 0-7 (a correction to a story from Tuesday that had them at 0-8) and will begin Carolina 1A Conference play with a home game against Princeton.
For Union, the boys improve to 2-4 overall. The Spartans also begin Carolina 1A Conference action, but their turnaround time is much shorter as they are set to host Rosewood on Friday. The Lady Spartans are currently 1-5 headed into conference play.
