CHARLOTTESVILLE–The 5th-ranked Atlanta Shepherd Stealers grabbed the crown at the 14th annual Herman Key, Jr. Memorial Holiday Tournament this weekend by downing the host 16th-ranked Charlottesville Cardinals, 72-54, in Sunday’s championship game.
Shepherd went undefeated in the round-robin portion of the tournament while Charlottesville entered the championship game with only one loss in round-robin–an earlier 73-57 defeat at the hands of the Stealers on Saturday.
In the tournament’s 3rd place game, the NRH Ambassadors (Washington, DC) downed the Philadelphia Magee Sixers 50-45 in a hard fought game. The Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets claimed 5th place after knocking off the Richmond Rimriders 65-53 on Sunday. The Virginia Beach Sunwheelers placed 7th.
Shepherd’s Gavin Cloy won the Most Valuable Player award and the Virginia Beach squad received the Rick Shifflett Sportsmanship award.
The All-Tournament team included Brandon Rush and Andrea Woodson-Smith (Charlottesville), Darryl Waller and Raphael Rodriguez (Shepherd), Anthony Capparella and Harsh Thakkar (NRH), Mark Hartney (Richmond), Tom McNaughton (Magee), and Mike Hudson (Charlotte).