The opening contest of the John Wall Holiday Invitational opened up between Apex Friendship and North Pitt High School. It went back and forth for the first few minutes, but the Patriots quickly took control and never looked back. At halftime, Apex Friendship led 33-19 over North Pitt. Both teams came out of the break and maintained their contrasting approaches. Apex Friendship continued expanding its lead through a blend of unselfish ball movement and quality perimeter shooting.
Meanwhile, North Pitt found a majority of their best looks through pushing the break, attacking in transition, and crashing the offensive glass. Although the Panthers started to build momentum, they trailed 45-33 to Apex Friendship at the end of the third quarter.
In the final period of play, North Pitt made a strong final push to get the deficit down to five points but couldn’t overcome the balanced attack from the Patriots—resulting in a 66-55 victory for Apex Friendship.