By By Rocky Higginbotham/The Meridian Star
Dec, 28, 2000
PHILADELPHIA Keith Robinson has been waiting for his Philadelphia basketball team to jell, and there's no better time than this week when the Tornadoes host a boys-only holiday tournament.
So far, so good.
Host Philly exploded for 36 first-quarter points on its way to an 83-34 win over Edinburg in the Wednesday-night finale of the Philadelphia Boyd Holiday Tournament.
In Wednesday's other late game, West Jones edged Ackerman 54-53.
Philadelphia takes on West Jones today in a 6 p.m. semifinal contest, while Ackerman and Edinburg meet in a losers' bracket game at 3:15 p.m.
Each of the eight teams in the tournament are guaranteed three games.
Philadelphia 83, Edinburg 34: Not much went wrong for the Tornadoes early, as Philly scored the final 19 points of the first quarter during a span of less than 3 1/2 minutes to blow open its contest with Edinburg.
How well did the Tornadoes play early? Philadelphia didn't turn the ball over until the 6:29 mark of the second quarter. By that time, the Tornadoes had forced nine Edinburg turnovers, outrebounded the Eagles 9-2 and jumped to a 39-11 lead.
In fact, Philly big man Keith Houston had more points than Edinburg until the 2-10 Eagles used a couple of late baskets to overcome him in the fourth quarter.
Houston finished with a game-high 31 points in barely more than two quarters of action, and he also had six rebounds as he helped his team improve to 9-7.
Philadelphia also got 12 points from sophomore Rashawn Hill, 11 points, five assists and eight steals from Tellas Burnside, seven points from Terry Boyd and six boards from Mandrake Jackson.
Back-to-back steals by Burnside sparked the 19-0 run by Philadelphia to end the first quarter. Houston also had eight points during the run, and he scored the last six points of the first half for the Tornadoes to blow the game open at 57-15.
Shane Estes led Edinburg with nine points, while Roman Ingram scored eight and pulled in six rebounds. Seventeen turnovers in the first half doomed the Eagles, who matched Philly basket for basket for the opening three minutes of the fast-paced first quarter.
West Jones 54, Ackerman 53: In a hotly-contested matchup, the Mustangs held off a feisty bunch of Indians to advance in the winners' bracket.
West Jones fell behind after one quarter, but rallied for a 28-26 lead at halftime and carried a 44-37 lead into the fourth quarter before Ackerman rallied.
Johnny McDonald led the Mustangs with a game-high 21 points. Chris Sanders added 12 points, and Joseph Dobbs scored nine.
Derrick Boyd's 12 points led Ackerman, which got eight points each from Xavier Weeks and Hayes Carter. Ray Ferguson added seven and Bobby Ferguson six.