MILLERS CREEK — A travel basketball team comprised of junior varsity level basketball players from Avery County emerged victorious in an Easter holiday tournament held at West Wilkes High School and West Wilkes Middle School on Saturday, April 16.
The Avery club, coached by Pat Boone, tangled with multiple teams in the tournament, picking up a win over Wilkes Hoops Group by a three-point margin. Sophomore Landon Harmon was an inside/outside threat, connecting on a game-winning three-pointer in the championship game matchup, as teammate Brooks Berry poured in 27 points in the winning effort.
“We had around eight kids who went to the tournament, and we played some good teams in Wilkes County. The boys played with heart and they made Avery County look good,” Coach Boone said. “It was only a four-team tournament with the holiday weekend, but the teams we played were some quality teams. All our guys stepped up and played well.”
Boone stressed how the team’s defensive effort was a difference maker for the squad’s success during its matchups in the tournament, noting how the event and others like it help to bring players together, helping to unify the players to play for one another and the good of the team.
“They had a very good defensive effort, and they all played with heart,” Boone added. “Sometimes the players aren’t familiar with each other, and getting them together for these tournaments allows them to get familiar with one another’s tendencies and gel together. They build trust with each other in game settings, and when you go to play tournaments so much you build a brotherhood between teammates. Playing against talented tournament teams, once you go on to play in high school, you’re like a well-oiled machine and make fewer mistakes as a group.”
Boone expressed gratitude for the support offered by the ACHS boys basketball coaching staff.
“Coach Frady and the staff, the first time I went to their practices, the camaraderie between the players and coaches was a case where everybody was trying to help each other,” Boone explained. “Everyone was trying to build each other’s confidence up, which is a great thing. The basketball program at Avery is going to keep climbing higher and higher because of that kind of atmosphere.”
