Holy Cross beats TCS, wins tourney

In meteorological terms, a tornado is a much stronger wind than a gael. But when the Tornadoes and Gaels put on basketball uniforms Saturday night, it was the Holy Cross Gaels that blew away Timberlake Christian's Tornadoes, 89-37, in the championship game of the Holiday Classic at King Field House on the Virginia Episcopal School campus.

The Gaels (3-2), playing like a whirlwind of their own, raced to a quick 9-0 lead to open the game and it looked like they had just extended their pregame layup drill to include the first three minutes of the game.

"I'm certainly surprised," said Holy Cross coach John Laneve, who won the tournament for the first time. "What we assumed after last night (a double-overtime win over LCA) and watching VES and LCA play so tight in the consolation game was that all four teams were evenly matched. We just came out quick."

In the first quarter, the strongest Gael of them all was tournament Most Valuable Player Luke Lesniak. The 5-foot-9 senior scored 13 of his 17 points in the first period and virtually every shot was a layup.

"I don't remember shooting anything but layups," Lesniak said. "It wasn't planned that we could come out and win like that. (Timberlake) just wasn't alive at all. I was beginning to wonder if they would score at all."

Along with winning the tournament and grabbing MVP honors, Lesniak's basket with 50 seconds left in the opening quarter was his 1,000th point of his career. Tournament officials stopped the game to honor Lesniak. TCS coach Charlie Williams probably wishes they had stopped the game period.

His Tornadoes (2-3) trailed 24-6 at the time and after Bryan Lightner, who scored 19 points and was named to the all-tournament team, canned a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left, the Gaels lead ballooned to 27-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Being behind was familiar for TCS. It had trailed VES 16-7 after the first quarter of its opening-round win over the Bishops. Timberlake's comeback Friday night made Laneve wary.

"I expected them to come back at us," Laneve said. "It got into a lull there though. It was still such a huge surprise."

Williams, whose only double-figure scorer was all-tournament selection Brian Fitzgerald with 11 points, had a night he would just soon forget.

"Sports is a funny business. One night you're a hero and another night you're a goat," Williams said. "We airballed it, made turnover after turnover and didn't handle their pressure at all. Obviously, we just allowed them to manhandle us. We didn't shoot it tonight, didn't play any defense, run our offense or do anything. We just played good one night and absolutely horrible the next night. We couldn't catch it, throw it or shoot it. You don't win many if you can't do those things."

Laneve showed mercy on Timberlake after his team took a 47-15 halftime lead into the locker room. Lesniak didn't play but a few seconds of the fourth quarter and Lightner and 6-3 center Eddie Williams, who scored 13 points and also made the all-tournament team, watched most of the fourth quarter from the pine.

"It was good to give some of the guys who haven't played as much a chance to get in there and do some things," Laneve said. "They all played well too. I think it brings everyone closer together when the starters are on the sidelines yelling to them. It makes them feel more a part of the team."

By Jeff Motley, Staff writer
Source: The News & Advance