St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.) did not miss in the first quarter and cruised from there to wrap up its second trip in three years to the King Cotton Holiday Classic.
The Knights defeated St. Michael’s Catholic Prep (Austin, Texas) 88-74 on Tuesday in the third-place game at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
St. Joseph shot 12 of 12 from the field, including 2 of 2 from three-point range, in the first quarter. The Knights’ only miss was at the free throw line, a place from which they finished the first quarter 3 of 4.
Knights Coach Tom Mott said he talked to his players about putting Monday night’s semifinal loss behind them, and they responded.
“You can attack them in one of two ways,” Mott said. “You can feel sorry for yourself, and kind of feel the other team out, or you can be the aggressor. That’s what we did tonight.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
That hot-shooting start gave the Knights a 29-17 lead after the first quarter. St. Joseph senior Julius Price, a Stanford signee, and younger brother Malcolm Price scored eight points apiece in the first, with senior Gunner Morinini adding seven.
The streak ended with St. Joseph’s first shot of the second quarter, but an offensive rebound set up Morinini for a 3-pointer.
The Warriors started the second half on a 9-2 run to cut St. Joseph’s lead to 51-43, but the Knights got the lead back to 65-51 by the end of the third quarter. St. Michael’s never threatened the lead again.
Mott said his Knights did well to withstand St. Michael’s runs.
“They run the best offense of anybody we’ve seen this year,” Mott said. “They’re patient. They’re definitely undersized, but their guys know how to play basketball, and they hit open shots. So, they made it tough on us all night. It’s more about how great they were, and we probably needed to defend a little bit better.”
Malcolm Price led with 24 points and seven rebounds, while Julius Price finished with 20 points and five rebounds. Both had eight assists.
Three other Knights scored 10 points or more.
Sunvith Jinkal led St. Michael’s with 17 points. He was one of four Warriors to reach double digits.
St. Joseph previously played in King Cotton in 2023. Mott said the Knights know they will be treated well in Pine Bluff.
“No matter what restaurant we went to, or wherever, people were talking about the King Cotton Classic,” Mott said. “When you go somewhere where basketball’s important, the King Cotton’s important, it makes you feel good as a visiting school, and I know the guys loved it.”
Windermere (Fla.) Prep 74, Bryant 61
Florida State signee Brandon Bass Jr. scored 34 points to lead Windermere Prep past Bryant to finish 2-1 at King Cotton.
The Hornets started strong and took an 11-2 lead with a thundering one-handed dunk by senior RJ Young, but the Lakers took the lead with a 17-4 run in the second quarter. Bryant closed the gap to 30-28 by halftime, only for the Lakers to score 23 points in the third quarter and 21 in the fourth to pull away.
Tristen Tucker added 18 points and six assists for Windermere, while Connor Corris scored 12 with 11 rebounds. Young led the Hornets with 25 points, followed by Camarion Bead with 18 points and nine assists.
Bryant shot 0 of 12 from 3-point range, while Windermere made 6 of 15. Bryant went 1-2 at King Cotton.
Alexander (Ga.) 56, Atascocita, Texas, 44
A 12-0 fourth quarter run powered Alexander (Douglasville, Ga.) past Atascocita, Texas.
Atascocita took a 41-39 lead early in the fourth quarter with a three-pointer. From there, the Cougars scored the game’s next 12 points to take the lead for good. AHS senior Adam Boyd scored a layup with 3:31 to play to end the run and cut Alexander’s lead to 53-43.
Scoring was negligible the rest of the game with both teams missing free throws and struggling to score. Both shot below 40 percent in the fourth, with Atascocita shooting 25 percent. The Eagles led 32-23 at halftime but scored just six points in each of the final two periods.
Gregory Dunson led Alexander with 30 points on 4 of 4 three-point shooting. Cameron Ned paced Atascocita with 15 points and seven rebounds, with Carter Savoy adding 10 points.
The Cougars went 2-0 in King Cotton, while the Eagles finished 0-2.
