Western falls in Gold Cup finale

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Dec. 22, 2000 | 10:01 a.m.

After three impressive victories -- including two over ranked foes -- in the Powerade Holiday Prep Classic, Western High School ran out of gas in Thursday night's Gold Cup championship.

The Warriors, who defeated Colorado's top-ranked team (George Washington) on Tuesday and the nation's No. 22 squad (Florida's Arlington Country Day) on Wednesday, could not find the same magic in the finale, falling to Abramson (La.) 75-62 at Green Valley High School.

"Emotionally, we weren't there," Western coach Tony Hopkins said. "Not to take anything away from the effort our opponent put forth, but our usual energy level wasn't there."

The Warriors' normally intense full-court pressure -- a key in their first three Holiday Prep wins -- had little effect on the Commodores, creating few easy scoring opportunities.

To make matters worse for the locals, they connected on just 2 of 11 3-point attempts and were forced to play much of the game without big man Tim Day, who picked up his third foul with five minutes remaining in the first half.

"We had a big win yesterday, and that had a lot to do with the way we played tonight," Day admitted.

Nevertheless, the Warriors (8-2) left the 68-team tournament with some valuable experience -- something they hope will serve them well as they prepare for league play in a Southwest Division that includes Bishop Gorman and Durango, two teams that went 3-1 in Millennium Cup play this week.

"Overall we had a great experience at the Holiday Prep," Hopkins said. "We grew as a basketball team. You don't come to the Holiday Prep Classic and expect to win it. You come to get experience, and if you get one or two wins, you consider yourself fortunate."

Offered Day: "In this tournament, we played against teams that were 6-9, 6-10 (inside) and Gorman (center Jason Carter) is 6-9, so that prepares us to play them. So we should have a good game against Gorman."

From the opening minutes on Thursday, it appeared clear Western was not playing like the team that rolled to a ridiculous 39-2 lead over first-round opponent Bonnabel (La.) on Monday. With guard Johnny Lewis scoring nine quick points, the Commodores (15-3) built an early 30-13 advantage and never surrendered the lead.

The Warriors battled back to close within three, but Day picked up his third foul moments later and Abramson took advantage, working the ball in to 6-7 sophomore Warren Scott and opening up a commanding 41-28 halftime edge.

"Since we're not very big, once Tim got in foul trouble, that kind of limited what we could do defensively," Hopkins said.

The Warriors did make a second-half run to make things interesting, closing within eight points on a 3-point play by Wendell West with 8:30 remaining. But Scott was simply too much for undersized Western, scoring 23 of his game-high 30 points after intermission to close the door on the locals.

Day finished with 19 points and six rebounds despite playing just 23 minutes, while West added 16 points.