Eagles advance with wins over Goochland, Greensville

The Prince Edward Eagles got their Conference Tournament underway last week and used an easy win over Goochland and a nail biter victory over Greensville to advance to the Conference Championship this week.

In the first round of the tournament, the Eagles had a familiar foe as they took on Goochland. The game went much the way it had in the regular season with the Eagles using consistent offense and defense to get the 58-43 victory. Goochland started the first quarter strong as they got some penetration against the Eagles defense and held a 14-11 lead at the end of the first eight minutes.

Prince Edward would right the ship in the second quarter as Marty Blount and Zarius Jones got the offense going, while the Eagles defense held Goochland to just six points. This gave PE a 23-20 lead at the half.

The third quarter would be a repeat of the second as the Eagles got strong inside play from Kevon Braxton and Montel Phillips in extending their lead to 9 points.

Prince Edward would pour it on in the fourth quarter with their best offensive output of the game and close the 58-43 win. Blount led Prince Edward with 18 points while Jones added 17. Braxton had 12 points and Phillips scored 6 while pulling down a team high 8 rebounds.

Prince Edward would then take on the second seeded Greensville squad in a two verses three match up. On the road, Prince Edward would have a shaky first quarter as they only scored 3 points. The defense would keep the Eagles close however as they trailed 7-3 early on. Both teams saw better offense in the second quarter, but PE still trailed by a 20-15 score at halftime.

In the third quarter, Greensville clamped down on the PE offense once again, holding them to just 2 points in an almost exact replay of the first quarter. Trailing 27-17 heading into the final quarter, PE would get their own pressure defense turned up and coupled with domination on the boards, the Eagles would outscore Greensville 32-31 to claim the come back win and advance to play Bluestone in the championship game this week.

Zarius Jones led PE in scoring with 8 points while Delquan Bigelow added 7 and Quan Nash scored 6. Kevon Braxton also added 6 points and a team high 9 rebounds.