Indians continue winning ways, capture tourney title

Josh Corry scored 16 points to help Gaffney capture the Substation II tournament with a victory over Chesnee. Corry was named the tournament MVP during a postgame awards presentation. Gaffney High basketball players celebrated the Christmas holiday Monday with a 92-65 victory over Chesnee to clinch the Substation II tournament championship.

Chesnee kept pace with Gaffney in the first half, playing the game at the torrid tempo that has become the Indians' trademark under head coach Mark Huff.

Baskets by Gaffney's Josh Corry and Jeff Brown keyed a scoring spurt late in the second quarter for a 43-30 halftime lead. Chesnee opened the second half with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to seven points.

"They've got some good athletes and they played with us the way we wanted to play," Huff said.

Gaffney led virtually the entire game before relying on their full court pressure to put away Chesnee.

Jalen Martin led Chesnee with a game-high 26 points while Cedric Proctor added 18 points.

Corry hit a 3- pointer to ignite a 26-10 scoring run that gave Gaffney a 71-48 lead at the end of the third quarter.

"The press is kind of our trademark ... we say it's like novacaine, it takes a little while for our press to kick in." —Coach Mark Huff Parris Funderburke, Ivan Vernon and Eric Fearn were among the reserves that contributed valuable minutes off the bench during the offensive outburst.

The relentless full court pressure gradually took its toll on Chesnee, allowing Gaffney to stretch its lead to as much as 27 points in the final minutes.

"Our kids played hard. The press is kind of our trademark," Huff said. "We say it's like novacaine, it takes a little while for our press to kick in."

Corry finished with 16 points and was named the tournament's most valuable player in a postgame award presentation. He was joined on the all tournament team by Jeff Brown.

Brown, a 6'2 guard, was a force inside for Gaffney against Chesnee scoring many of his team-high 17 points off his ability to grab offensive rebounds.

Bubba Wright had 16 points and Chase Smith had 13 points.

Parris Funderburke had 7 points and DeEdward Burris contributed six points for Gaffney.

"We want to get all our kids into the game in every game," Huff said.

Gaffney will travel to Kentucky this weekend to participate in the Cumberland Falls Invitational holiday tournament. The event will be held Dec. 27-30.