Phenom Hoops kicked off the season in a big way with the Carmel Christian Tip-Off Classic, bringing in some of the premier talent and teams from around the region under one building in Charlotte.
Moving on to one of the premier matchups on the night, the battle of the GOATS took place in Charlotte as Oak Hill Academy took on Greensboro Day early in the evening. Oak Hill came out strong and was able to get it done on both sides, showing a balanced inside and out attack to help them build an early 16-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. Oak Hill was able to maintain their double-digit lead throughout the second but it was the play of Jaydon Young and Nik Graves that helped Greensboro Day make a late run, as they found themselves down only six at halftime 29-23.
Throughout the third quarter, each team seemed to be trading blows. Greensboro Day would knock down some big shots, especially from three but Oak Hill would have an answer to keep this within a four to six-point game all throughout the quarter, making this one look like an absolute thriller going into the fourth quarter.
Inching closer, eventually, Greensboro Day took the narrow lead in the fourth and looked to kill some clock while also knocking down shots from free throw line. Their lead got as big as seven points with two minutes to go, looking to secure the big win. Oak Hill hit a big three to cut it down to four with a minute and half to go but a key bucket from Young and two free throws with 45 seconds left push GDS's lead back to eight. Big three by Oak Hill and a steal quickly pushed it back down to three points. With 3.1 seconds to go, Michael Zanoni went to the line but missed both and gave Oak Hill one final chance.
Tybo Bailey got a clean look a few feet behind the three but just missed, as Greensboro Day took home the victory 55-54.
Final: Greensboro Day 55 – Oak Hill 54
Stats:
Greensboro Day: Michael Zanoni 13 points/ Jaydon Young 12/ Graham Worland 11/ Nik Graves 11
Oak Hill: Judah Mintz 16 points/ Devin Ree 11/ Christian Reeves 7/ Caleb Foster 7
