Hickory Creek was the last team standing in the elementary District 1 tournament Thursday night at Bobby Ray.
The Hawks won a slugfest against West Elementary, 28-22.
COVID-19 knocked out the season’s No. 1 seed, Irving College, which was not able to compete in the tournament. The Tigers were quarantined. Hickory Creek’s opening tournament opponent was Boyd, which also was in quarantine and could not play in the tournament.
West beat its opponent, Bobby Ray, on Monday night, and faced Hickory Creek for the third time this season. The two teams had split during the regular season.
The third meeting was what one hopes to see in a championship – a very competitive game.
Hickory Creek installed a defense that was designed to contain West’s dynamic scoring duo of Levi Scott and Trey Martin. Coach Shea Panter called it a triangle and two defense. Two players played Scott and Martin individually man-to-man, and the other three players played in a zone defense.
Trey Martin had been as hot as a pistol for West on Monday night against Bobby Ray. Hickory Creek was able to contain Martin for most of the game Thursday night, and the defense disrupted Martin’s shooting.
Adam Oleksik popped a 3-pointer to give Hickory Creek a 22-16 lead going into the fourth quarter. Luke Simpson went from coast to coast to start the fourth to put the Hawks up 24-16. Then the game became a defensive battle with a lot of timeouts.
West responded late in the fourth with two buckets to make it a 24-20 game with 1:24 to go. Grayson Todd scored a clutch basket to put the Hawks up 26-20. Todd made several key points in the game, and his last basket put the game out of reach for West. The final score was Hickory Creek 28 – West 22.
West had two players named to the all-tournament team, Levis Scott and Trey Martin. Hickory Creek had three players named to the all-tournament team, Adam Oleksik, Luke Simpson, and Grayson Todd.
Hickory Creek 28
West Elementary 22
Hickory Creek Scoring
Luke Simpson 11, Grayson Todd 8, Nashan Luviano 6, Adam Oleksik 3
West Scoring
Levis Scott 12, Trey Martin 8, Daniel Hicks 2
