by Jamie Harris
The brand new gymnasium at Berkeley Springs High School was the home to the 33rd Tri State Annual Shootout on December 27 and 28.
This year the field included the Berkeley Springs Indians, Hancock Panthers, North Hagerstown Hubs and the Southern Fulton Indians in the two day event.
In the opening game Southern Fulton took a 63-36 win over Hancock to advance to the finals. On Thursday evening the Berkeley Springs Indians hosted the North Hagerstown Hubs in the night cap. North Hagerstown took a 13-7 first quarter lead as EJ Barkley (five points) and Payton Mann (two points) supplied the scoring for the Tribe.
In the second quarter, Berkeley Springs outscored the Hubs 20-19 to go into the locker room down 32-27. The Tribe was led in scoring in the second period by freshman Gavin Barkley (11 points), EJ Barkley (three points), Cameron King (two points), Carson Stotler (two points) and Ty’Jae Armstrong (two points).
In the third quarter, North Hagerstown came out of the locker room with a new source of energy and outscored Berkeley Springs 19-7 to increase their lead to 51-34. Scoring for the Tribe in the third quarter were EJ Barkley (three points), Gavin Barkley (three points) and Armstrong (one point).
In the fourth quarter, the Indians made a valiant comeback effort outscoring North 21-20 behind Gavin Barkley’s 15 points, but the deficit was too much for the Tribe to overcome as they lost 71-55.
Nate Bland (three points) and EJ Barkley (three points) scored as well for the Indians. Gavin Barkley led the Indians with a season high 29 points. EJ Barkley (14 points), Armstrong (three points), Bland (three points), King (two points), Mann (two points) and Stotler (two points) helped the Tribe in scoring.
On Friday evening the Indians faced the Hancock Panthers in the consolation game. The Indians rolled to a 60-44 win behind EJ Barkley’s 26 points. In the first quarter the Indians took a 19-13 lead as EJ Barkley (nine points), Gavin Barkley (eight points) and Stotler (two points) all scored.
In the second period the Indians outscored the Panthers 15-7 to go into the half with a 34-20 lead. Scoring in the second period for the Tribe were EJ Barkley (four points), Bland (three points) and scoring two points each were Gavin Barkley, King, Trenton Kyne and Armstrong.
In the third quarter, Hancock made a brief run outscoring the Indians 16-12, but still trailed 46-36 after three periods. Scoring in the third for the Indians Gavin Barkley (six points), EJ Barkley (five points) and Larry Miller (one point).
The Indians put the game away in the fourth quarter with a 14-8 run to seal the 60-44 win and lock up third place in the Tri-State Shootout. Scoring in the fourth quarter for the Tribe were EJ Barkley (eight points), Mann (two points), Gavin Barkley (two points) and Hunter Duvall (two points).
The Indians were led by EJ Barkley’s 26 point effort while brother Gavin Barkley scored 18 points. Bland (three points), King (two points), Mann (two points), Kyne (two points), Stotler (two points), Duvall (two points), Armstrong (two points) and Miller (one point) rounded out the scoring. EJ Barkley and Gavin Barkley were both selected to the Tri-State Shootout All-Tournament team as they finished the two day tournament with a combined 87 points. Gavin Barkley had 47 points and EJ Barkley finished with 40 points.
