After coming up short in the final of the City of Palms Classic in Florida, St. Patrick (NJ) won the Beach Ball Classic Wednesday night in South Carolina.
The Celtics took full advantage of a short-handed Wheeler (GA) squad in route to capturing the title with a 72-53 victory.
Wheeler (7-5) lost a major piece of its puzzle in the semifinal round when North Carolina State commit Richard Howell went down with a pulled muscle in his back. The injury kept Howell sitting on the bench watching as the Wildcats lost in the final for the second straight year.
St. Patrick (5-1) went on a 14-1 run midway through the first half to put the game out of reach as the Celtics built leads as large as 27 points.
St. Patrick was led by sophomore and BBC Most Valuable Player Michael Gilchrist’s 31 points and 14 rebounds. North Carolina-bound guard Dexter STrickland added 16 points and 7 boards. Wheeler was led by Ari Stewart’s 18 points and nine boards.
(Photo, writeup courtesy Beach Ball Classic)