Albany Holiday Classic: Merry Acres sweeps boy’s and girl’s championships

ALBANY — The Merry Acres Braves and Lady Braves’ basketball teams won close games over Sumter County Wednesday evening to win the championships of the inaugural Good Life City Holiday Classic at the Albany Civic Center. In both games, the Braves held off late rallies from the Panthers to win. The boys held on for a 41-34 win, while the girls finished with a 24-16 tally.

The Braves led most of the way in the boy’s game and extended their lead to 28-19 late in the third quarter with a three-pointer from Destin Bell. Sumter County turned on full-court pressure in the fourth quarter, however, and closed the gap to just two points, 34-32. But keeping his team in front, the Braves’ Mikel Roberts drained a three from the top of the key with 1:45 left to play, and Kaden Taylor added a layup for extra insurance to put the Panthers away.

Roberts led the Braves in scoring with 16 points, Taylor put in eight, and Bell finished with seven. Roberts and Bell earned spots on the All-Tournament team for the Braves.

The girl’s game was a low-scoring affair as both teams had trouble finding the bottom of the basket and suffered turnovers frequently trying to get the ball toward the goal. The Lady Braves led 12-8 at the half but had a rough third quarter against the Lady Panthers as Sumter County tied the game 13-13 at the end of the third quarter. Merry Acres Savannah Donaldson added some stability for the Lady Braves in the fourth and Merry Acres pulled out the win.

Donaldson led the Lady Braves with 15 points. Donaldson and Ja’Niyah Brown earned spots on the All-Tournament team.

Joe Whitfield/Sports EditorJoeWhitfield[email protected]