Berry boys knock Freedom from ranks of unbeaten

Berry Academy grabbed the boys’ basketball championship trophy at the Burke County Invitational on Thursday night, knocking off previously unbeaten Freedom 78-72 in Morganton.

Three players combined for 66 points to lead Berry (12-1) to the title on Freedom’s floor and hand the Patriots their first loss in 14 games.

Osandi Vaughn scored a game-high 32 points, Dajuan Graf had 18 and Cazmon Hayes added 16 for Berry.

Darrion Evans’ 23 points led the Patriots, who also got 14 points each from Chris Bridges and Rob Noyes and 11 more from Khris Gardin.

Berry gained an eight-point lead in the opening eight minutes and led 39-30 at the half.

Butler took third in the tournament, beating East Burke 92-89 in two overtimes at Freedom despite a career-high 53 points by the Cavs’ Clay Byrd.

SOUTH CALDWELL 63, ST. STEPHENS 54

A 20-point second quarter sparked No. 7 seed South Caldwell’s victory over fifth-seeded St. Stephens in the third-place game of the Catawba Valley Classic at CVCC.

St. Stephens led 14-9 after one quarter, but the Spartans outscored the Indians 20-6 in the second quarter and led 29-20 at the half.

Jordyn Propst and Jared Mask combined for 35 points for South Caldwell (5-6). Propst had 22 of those points.

The Indians did not have a player reach double figures.

FRED T. FOARD 48, NEWTON-CONOVER 41

Jordan Turner’s 19 points sparked Fred T. Foard to a fifth-place finish in the Catawba Valley Classic at CVCC.

Turner made seven of his 10 shots and Tyler Dickens hit five of his eight shots and scored 10 points as Foard (10-3) reached double-figure wins under new head coach Rob Bliss.

The second-seeded Tigers, who won five games over the previous two seasons, won despite 51.6 percent shooting by the fourth-seeded Red Devils (7-4). Foard shot 40.9 percent.

Kevin Cline led Newton-Conover with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Kevin Holloway added seven points and a game-high five rebounds.

GIRLS

McDOWELL 48, FREEDOM 41

McDowell had a big third quarter to erase Freedom’s halftime lead and nip the Patriots on their home floor in the championship game of the Burke County Invitational.

The Titans (11-2) wiped out the Patriots’ 23-18 edge at the half by outscoring them 19-7 in the third quarter.

Tuccoa Brackett led McDowell with 13 points, Taylor Settlemyer added 12 and Jessica Patrick had 10.

For Freedom, Tyra Kirkpatrick had 10 points and was the only scorer in double figures.

Patrick was named the most valuable player of the tournament.

East Burke beat Asheville Christian 59-43 for third place in the tournament, getting 16 points from Sydney Haas and 14 by Lauren Arney.

ALEXANDER CENTRAL 43, SOUTH CALDWELL 35

Alexander Central rallied in the second half, erasing a 13-point halftime deficit, to overcome the Spartans and finish third in the Catawba Valley Classic at CVCC.

Fourth-seeded South Caldwell (6-5) had a 22-9 lead at the half, but the second-seeded Cougars (9-3) outscored the Spartans 17-9 to pull within a point heading into the final quarter.

Madi Suddreth led three Alexander Central players in double figures with 12 points. Kelsie Rhyne added 11 and Marie Ritchie had 10 and the Cougars inched closer to a 10-win season for the first time since 1995-96.

Anna Lee Bollinger’s 14 points led the Spartans.

FRED T. FOARD 52, MAIDEN 42

Brooke Robinson just missed a double-double as she led sixth-seeded Fred T. Foard to fifth place in the Catawba Valley Classic at CVCC.

Robinson hit 10-of-16 shots and scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Tigers (7-6), who also got 13 points and seven rebounds from Chelsea Turner. Kayla Whitworth led Foard’s rebounding with nine.

Foard led the fifth-seeded Blue Devils (5-5) by three points at the half and by 34-32 heading into the final quarter.

Sabrien Gaither, making nine of 22 shots, led Maiden with 24 points. Rachel Good grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and Mackenzie Eller had eight for the Blue Devils.