MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - Men's Basketball has earned the right to call themselves SAA Tournament Champions for the second year in a row after taking care of business against Centre by a final score of 83-65.
The story of the game for Berry was an unbelievable performance by senior Parker Godwin who had 22 points on seven three-pointers, six rebounds, and an assist, showing exactly why he was voted All-SAA Honorable Mention.
The young talent for Berry in this game got the Vikings over the hump. Freshman Nile King came up big with a season-high 14 points and 6 rebounds while shooting an efficient 66.7 percent from the floor. Sophomore Ryan Luttrell made his presence felt throughout the game with a season-high 14 points in his best outing of the season.
Senior Braxton Benham had big buckets as well, adding eleven points to pace the Viking attack.
The action got started for the Vikings early in the first half as Isaac Martin swung a pass through to Godwin who nailed a three-pointer to cause the Cage Arena crowd to erupt. Deja vu was true for the Colonels a few possessions later, when the same connection resulted in another Godwin three-pointer, giving Berry a 6-0 lead with 18:06 left in the first half. With a 13-6 lead at the 15-minute mark, Benham came off of a pick-and-roll and sent a rocket of a bounce pass through to Nile King who elevated for a two-hand flush, making the score 15-6.
A few minutes later, King would convert on a layup as he heated up for the Vikings, giving them a 20-8 lead with 11:15 to play in the first half. Things went from bad to worse for the Colonels when Ryan Luttrell entered the ball game and nailed a three-pointer off another assist from floor general Isaac Martin.
Later in the half, King stared down his defender from the wing and released a bomb from three-point range that connected to give Berry a 33-21 lead with 4:39 left in the half. In the final minutes in the half, Centre clawed their way back with a run that was fueled by a buzzer-beating half-court shot that made the score 42-36 at the half.
Following a Centre basket, the second half got started the same way as the first did, as Benham dished the ball to Godwin who drained another shot from long range to extend the lead out to 7.
The two teams would go back and forth until Drew Winegarden found himself open off yet another Martin pass that led to Drew connecting on a three-pointer that made the score 54-41 with 14:13 to play.
With 8 minutes to play, Centre cut the Berry lead down to 7. The battle-tested Vikings gave up no ground as they had fire in their eyes and their minds set on an SAA Tournament Championship. Berry went on to unleash a vicious 22-11 run to close out the game and put it out of reach from the Centre Colonels.
Parker Godwin was named to the SAA All-Tournament Team and his fellow senior Braxton Benham was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
With the huge win, Berry will await their assignment to compete in the NCAA Tournament next weekend.
