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Raiders captures own Christmas Tournament Wilson leads Cal-Mum with an MVP effort For the Raiders’ Boy Basketball team, it was truly a different feeling in winning this year’s Cal-Mum Christmas Tournament. Cal-Mum was forced to move the tournament to York Central High School gym to accommodate the scheduled removal of asbestos from Cal-Mum High School. The Raiders then had the unenviable task of facing the York Golden Knights in the opening round, in their own gym; giving the Knights a huge home court advantage in the opening round of the tournament. The Raiders would ultimately prevail with a hard fought 57 to 51 comeback victory that would send Cal-Mum into the championship game against the Marion Knights, themselves a 66 to 64 upset victor over the Oakfield-Alabama Hornets. Jeremy Wilson was at his best as he led the Raiders in scoring with 22 points in the York contest and he continued to impress with 21 more points in the championship game against Marion. Wilson served notice early in the Marion game with 9 of the Raiders 17, 1st quarter points. His hard defensive play and scoring prowess made him the obvious Most Valuable Player for this year’s tournament. Raider teammates, Jordan Shelton and Chris Voos joined Wilson on the 2008 Tournament All-Star team. Rounding out the rest of this year’s All-Star squad were Jon Leeuwen and Sal Iannello of Marion, Travis Nash of York and Noah Seward of Oakfield-Alabama.
Cal-Mum 57 The Raiders faced off against the York Golden Knights in the opening round of the 2008 Christmas Tournament. Playing in front of a full house, the Raiders and the Knights battled back and forth for the 1st quarter. A Jordan Shelton basket with: 03 left in the quarter gave Cal-Mum a 14 to 11 advantage at the end of the quarter. The Raiders slowly began to stretch the lead in 2nd quarter. Jeremy Wilson’s 2-pointer with 3:18 gave Cal-Mum an 8-point lead at 26 to 18. York’s Travis Nash would later hit a long 3-pointer, that would close the Raider lead to three points. A free throw by Jordan Shelton and a basket by Chris Voos for Cal-Mum to close the half would again pushed the Raider lead back to six points, at 29 to 23. The Raider opened up the 3rd quarter with consecutive baskets by Tommy Stein and Chris Voos, opening up the largest Raider lead of the game at 33 to 23 and they would need every point of it. The Raiders shooting touch would go cold for the next 6-minutes and the Knights’ shooting would heat up, especially Travis Nash. Two consecutive Nash 3-point baskets were followed by another 3-pointer, by his teammate James Culver, allowing York to seize the lead at 34 to 33. A Jordan Shelton basket would stop the Knights run but an Eric Valentino basket to end the 3rd quarter would put York on top, 36 to 35 at the end of the 3rd quarter. York would continue to hold the lead for most of the 4th quarter but the Raiders never would allow the Knights to get more than three points ahead. With less than 4 ½ minutes remaining in the game, the Raiders’ offense finally came alive. Baskets by Tommy Stein, Chris Voos and Jeremy Wilson finally pushed the Raiders back into the lead, at 47 to 46 with but 3:35 left on the clock. Chris Voos would then become the Raider offensive spark as he would supply the final six Raider points, as Cal-Mum would survived the York Knights’ scare, 57 to 51. Jeremy Wilson led the Raiders with 22 points. Chris Voos with 12 points and Jordan Shelton with 9 points were next on the Raider scoring list. Travis Nash was a force for the Knights. His six 3-point baskets and his 22 points kept York in the contest. Jesse Galvin’s 10 points and Eric Valentino’s 8 points followed Nash in the York scoring parade.
Cal-Mum 55 The Raiders met the Marion Knights in the Tournament Championship on Saturday night. The Raiders were expecting a tough struggle from the Knights who upset a strong Oakfield-Alabama squad on Friday night. The Raiders jumped on Marion early as the inside game for Cal-Mum was very effective. Brian Sinclair and Jeremy Wilson combined for the Raiders first 15-points. Wilson’s 3-pointer with 1:48 remaining in the 1st quarter extended the Raider lead to 15 to 7. Sean Ancker would end the quarter with a bucket giving the Raiders a 17 to 9 lead. Cal-Mum continued to shoot well at the start of the 2nd quarter. A Jeremy Wilson basket at the 6:05 mark made the score 23 to 11. It was fortunate that Cal-Mum had such a large lead because they would need it, as the Raiders would go cold and not score for the rest of the half. Meanwhile Marion would chip away, eventually closing to within one point at halftime as Jon Leeuwen’s basket with only: 01 remaining on the clock made the score 23 to 22 as Cal-Mum clung to the lead. Whatever momentum the Raiders had lost in the 2nd quarter was quickly regained early in the 3rd quarter. Playing their best defense of the year, Cal-Mum held Marion scoreless until there was only 1:19 left in the quarter. Offensively, Cal-Mum looked sharp in slicing into the Knights’ defensive zone. Tommy Stein did most of the damage with six points all from within the paint to help open a 36 to 24 Raider advantage going into the final quarter. The Raiders continued to play good offensively in the closing quarter. Only a strong scoring effort from Marion’s Jon Leeuwen kept the game from being a rout. His three 3-point baskets help keep the final score respectable for the visiting Knights. Cal-Mum had a balanced scoring effort in the contest. Jeremy Wilson was the leader with 20 points. After Wilson, Chris Voos chipped in 8 points. Brian Sinclair, Tommy Stein and Dave Nasradinaj all scored six points. Marion played with a short bench for the whole tournament, playing only seven players. Jon Leeuwen was high man for Marion with 21 points, followed by Sal Iannello with 9 points.
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