By By Matthew Nascone
There was reason to celebrate Saturday night for the Escambia Academy JV Cougars boy's basketball team.
That reason was a tournament championship. The Cougars took down Sparta Academy and Monroe Academy for the EA JV boy's basketball tournament trophy. Head coach Kevin Woods said he was proud of his guys.
"I was very pleased with the victory, but not as much as they were," Woods said. "They played excellent team defense and they forced a lot of turnovers."
The tournament was originally a four-team tournament, but one team backed out at the last minute, Woods said. So the format was changed to a round robin style tournament and EA beat Sparta and Monroe to win it all.
The Cougars had a little trouble with Sparta, defeating them 30-28, but disposed of Monroe easily 47-35.
Blake Kirk was named the tournament MVP with 21 points and 17 rebounds in the two games. Bradley Grant and Michael Hippa were named to the all-tournament team. Grant poured in 14 points and 12 rebounds and Hippa added 13 points and five rebounds.
"Kirk did an excellent job of scoring and grabbing rebounds," Woods said. "Grant is our best ball handler and our best defensive player. Hippa guarded the other team's best player in both games and he had four steals. He played as well as he has all year. All three guys played great defense and scored buckets when we needed them."
James White added 11 points and five rebounds and Seth Lassiter dropped in 15 points and three rebounds for the tournament.
Woods said he has not changed his approach on offense or defense all season and it has led his team to a 4-3 record.
"We believe defense wins games and we have to play smart basketball and we will continue to win games," Woods said.