Knights claim 2009 USBA State Championship behind Elliott's 20 point, 23 rebound effort
Date: June 06, 2009 at 10:22
When the stakes are highest, Tracy Elliott is at his best. With 4 Knights MVP awards, 4 national championships All Tournament team honors and a USSSA National Championships MVP award among his impressive collection, Elliott has always answered the call regardless of the opponent. Again the high flying 6'3 forward was dominant hitting 8 of 10 shots from the floor for 20 points and grabbing 23 rebounds, owning the paint for the Knights in a hard fought 69-58 win against the Hopewell Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles had been doing their own damage in the state championships dismantling their pool opponents making the championship game a much anticipated matchup of clearly the states top two teams. The Knights started sluggish missing several early shots and falling behind 12-4 to start the game. Slowly they chipped away cutting the Hopewell lead to just two by halftime. In the second half Joe Hassell keyed the Knights perimeter defense disrupting the once fluent Hopewell half court flex offense. Hassell did an outstanding job limiting the touches of guard Eric Johnson (Prince George HS) who finished with 23 of his teams' 58 points but managed only 7 in the second half thanks in large part to Hassell's defensive pressure. With Hassell in the line-up, the Knights were able to finally overcome the Hopewell hot start and, after several second half lead changes finally built a lead of as many as 10 points with just more than three minutes left. TaShawn Griffen was typically elusive slicing to the basket dishing out 7 assists and scoring 11 points in the win. Backcourt mate Brian Daniels nailed key jumpers late that helped the Knights hold off one final charge by Hopewell as they got to within four points in the final 1:44 but could not catch the Knights. The final nail in the coffin was hammered in by Tracy Elliott who drove the lane with just over a minute left in a four point game and was fouled as he rose near the mid block area for a dunk. Two Hopewell defenders collided with Elliott still three feet from the basket and got a birdseye view of a thunderous Elliott tomahawk dunk that sent the Weinstein Center crowd into a frenzy. That resulted in a three point play for Elliott and a subsequent game sealing seven point Knights lead.
The Knights claimed their fourth Virginia state title overall and first USBA state crown in their initial USBA campaign. The Hopewell Golden Eagles were looking to repeat as Virginia State USBA Champs, they also won the AAU Division II Virginia State title last season.
Scoring: Elliott 20, Griffen 11, Daniels 10, Woods 8, Lewis 2, Hassell 7, Holmes 7, Browne 4...
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