Winston-Salem Prep won the Pepsi Bracket of the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic with their 58-56 win over Parkland on Dec. 21, 2024.
MARC PRUITT Staff Reporter
KERNERSVILLE-There was one more long, drawn-out exhale from Coach Bill Tibbs of Winston-Salem Prep as Brock Jackson's last-second heave from just inside the half-court line rimmed out as time expired, securing a 58-56 win for the Phoenix in the championship game of the Pepsi Bracket of the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic at East Forsyth on Saturday.
Tibbs watched as his team kept pulling away from No. 5 seed Parkland all game, only to see the determined Mustangs keep creeping back.
Prep, the No. 2 seed, led 57-50 with 1:22 left to play, but went 1 for 8 from the free throw line down the stretch to allow Parkland, the No. 5 seed, to have its final chance.
Joshaun Williamson scored on a driving layup, Jayden Scales added a free throw, and then followed that up with a 3-pointer with nine seconds left that cut the Mustangs' deficit to 58-56.
Jace Covington of Prep stepped to the line with 3.6 seconds for two free throws and missed them both. Jackson grabbed the rebound and split two defenders and got an open look at the potential game-winning shot.
The Prep bench celebrated the miss, winning its first Frank Spencer title since 2017, when it won the Myers Tire Bracket, and its first under Tibbs.
The Parkland bench smiled with a "what might have been" grin but didn't hang their heads.
"That shot actually looked good from my vantage point," Tibbs said. "Then it just rattled out. But what a great game. They played hard. We played hard. It is what a championship game should look like. We knew it was going to be a game like that."
Ahmir Wiggins of Prep was named the Most Valuable Player of the Pepsi Bracket and scored 15 points in the championship game. Covington also scored 15 and Khorbyn Bowser added 12.
Prep (8-0) led 15-8 after the first quarter and 25-17 at halftime. The Phoenix scored 15 straight points in a scoring run that bridged the last 1 minute, 3 seconds of the second quarter and the first 1:04 of the third quarter to take a 32-17 lead.
Covington hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 21 seconds of the first half, and had a layup in the third quarter to account for eight of those 15 points.
"We had changed our defense at that point from our signature defense to a 2-2-1 and we told them they just had to go and get it and that's what they did," Tibbs said. "That was successful for us the whole tournament."
Prep led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, but Parkland again kept slowly cutting into its deficit and trailed 44-39 going into the fourth.
Tibbs wanted to try and contain Brock Jackson, one of Parkland's guards who had scored 44 points in the Mustangs previous two wins, including an upset of No. 1 Reynolds in the semifinals on Friday.
"We made an adjustment on (Jackson) and tried to keep the ball out of his hands, but if he did have it we wanted to try and trap him because he is so dangerous with that ball," Tibbs said. "And you saw what almost happened with him at the end."
Wiggins, who moved to Winston-Salem over the summer from New Jersey, enjoyed his first Frank Spencer experience.
"I love it here, I love the competition here and I love the atmosphere," Wiggins said. "We've been working really hard for this in practice and I have to thank my teammates. Coach (Tibbs) told me it was a great event and all I wanted to worry about was staying humble."
Jackson led Parkland with 14 points, Scales finished with 11, and Tre Walker chipped in with 10.
Coach Andrew Porter, in his first season with the Mustangs, was upbeat after the loss and proud of the effort he got from his team during the tournament.
He pointed to one glaring issue: free throws. Parkland finished 10 of 25 from the free throw line against Prep.
"That's been our kryptonite all season," Porter said. "When you're 10 for 25 from the free throw line...if we hit five of those, it's a different outcome tonight. But we take a lot of positives from the tournament. As a program, it shows what our vision is and how we want to play. It's a big boost for us I think. A lot of people didn't expect for us to be in this position, and we'll take that as a positive thing because we are moving in the right direction. Kids are competing. Kids are fighting, and that's all we can ask for."
Covington and Brandon Rorie (Prep), Jackson and Scales (Parkland) and Zyire Murphy of Glenn were named to the all-tournament team in the Pepsi Bracket.
"I think this means a lot for our program because we are back where we are supposed to be," Tibbs said. "We just have to keep going from here."
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