BECKLEY — Same gym. Same teams. Same result.

M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs, making their final tournament appearance, defeated the West Virginia Generals 54-51 Sunday to win the eighth-grade division of the 41st annual Wendy’s/YMCA of Southern West Virginia Biddy-Buddy All-Star Tournament at Woodrow Wilson High School.

The teams met last year in the seventh-grade title game, with the Mustangs coming out on top. They held off a fourth-quarter surge by the Generals to again leave as Biddy-Buddy champions.

“We played pretty good today. That’s a good team we played,” Mustangs coach John Adkins said. “They made a good comeback on us but we weathered the storm.”

The Mustangs led 26-18 at halftime and maintained their eight-point advantage, 37-29, going into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Generals got going.

After the Mustangs had increased their lead to 45-32 on back-to-back baskets by Chase Porter and Michael Karl, the Generals went on a 9-1 run to get it to 46-40. The spurt was highlighted by a Courtney Walton 3-pointer and a steal and layup by Tarek Payne.

A three-point play by Collin Miller stemmed the momentum, but West Virginia eventually pulled to 50-46 on 4-of-4 free-throw shooting by Isiah Francis and a basket by Walton.

Collin Miller was perfect on four shots from the line over the last 25 seconds, and Lavonte Carter’s putback for the Generals at the buzzer created the three-point final.

“We just didn’t execute very well for a couple of minutes,” Adkins said. “We left some shooters (open), they made a couple 3s. We just couldn’t make free throws and missed a couple of shots. But we did what we had to do.”

“Good game with them, once again,” Generals coach Mike Fowlkes said. “We got off to a slow start and got down by 13 early. We battled back after we got our groove.”

The Generals advanced to the title game with a thrilling last-second, 48-47 win over the Rising Stars in Saturday’s semifinal. Fowlkes said there might have been some hangover from that victory.

“These kids have been playing (the Stars) for (several) years and had never beaten them,” Fowlkes said. “To beat them (Saturday) night, I think that had something to do with (the slow start). But that’s taking nothing away from M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs. They are a great basketball team.”

Miller led the Mustangs with 18 points. Division MVP Timmy Dalton added 15. Dalton also won the MVP award a year ago.

The Generals got a game-high 27 points from Francis.

Payne and Tamon Scruggs  were named to the all-tournament team for the Generals.

The tournament was the first of the travel season for both squads, and the Mustangs were playing short-handed in the finals. Two of their players left after Saturday’s action to play in a showcase tournament in Columbus, Ohio.

“We’ve got a nice bunch,” Adkins said. “Hopefully, we’ll do some good things this year.”

The Generals, meanwhile, will be hopping from state to state this year, developing chemistry along the way.

“We go to Winston-Salem, we’ll play in Charlotte, we go to Pittsburgh, play in Cincinnati,” Fowlkes said. “Just to different places. Thanks to Tamar Slay (a former Woodrow Wilson star and state Player of the Year, as well as former NBA draft pick) and Greg Darby and Little General, Jan-Care and Mid-State Auto, and the other ones that I can’t think of. They allow these kids to go (play). I’m just coaching them.”

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Also winning titles were: Tug Valley Southern Express (fourth grade), West Virginia Ice (fifth grade), SWV Future (sixth grade) and West Virginia Ice (seventh grade).

The 42nd annual tournament will be played March 7-9, 2014.

— E-mail: gfauber@

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Biddy-Buddy Tournament

Here are final results from the 41st annual Biddy-Buddy All-Star Tournament, which concluded Sunday in Beckley:

Fourth Grade

Champions: Tug Valley Southern Express

Runners-up: Chesapeake Panthers

Third place: WV Elite

Fourth place: Wayne Pioneers

Fifth place: Buffalo Bison

Sixth place: Beckley Red

All-tournament: Nate Ball, Jorden Ellison (BB); Zan Hill, Austin Underwood (BR); Ayden Ince, Todd Duncan (WVE); Cole Kiley, Haley Wallace (WP); Andrew Bentley, Trent Dearth (CP)

Division MVP: Tug Valley team



Fifth Grade

Champions: WV Ice

Runners-up: NSBC Rampage

Third place: Logan All-Stars

Fourth place: East Warriors

Fifth place: WV Generals

Sixth place: Huntington Red

All-tournament: Bailey Adkins, Issac Ross (HR); Luke LeRose, Tommy Williams (WVG); McQuad Canada, Kaimyn Anderson (EW); David Early, Drew Hatfield (LAS); Mike Maumbo, Kayden Metheny (NSBC); Kavlin Parris, Isaiah Rivers (WVI)

Division MVP: Isaiah Rivers, WV Ice



Sixth Grade

Champions: SWV Future

Runners-up: WV Midland

Third place: WV Ice

Fourth place: Huntington White

Fifth place: Morgantown Omega Bump

Sixth place: Wayne Pioneers

All-tournament: Brad Cremeans, Braxton Wallace (WP); Nick Malone, Tanner Kennedy (MOB); Tres Amaker, Derrick Blevins (WVI); Trey Chapman, Griffin Adkins (WVM); Micah Hancock, Hunter Fansler (SWV)

Division MVP: Logan Cook, SWV Future



Seventh Grade

Champions: WV Ice

Runners-up: WV Renegades

Third place: Southern Express

Fourth place: Tri-State Express

Fifth place: WV Wildcats

Sixth place: Spring Valley

All-tournament: Damien McBride, Derek Johnson (SV); Anthony Pittman, Ryan Thomas (WVW); Thomas Price, Jayden Hayes (TSE); Bryce Radford, Tye Walton (WVI); Shane Jenkins, Travis Cook (WVR)

Division MVP: Dontá Hopkins, WV Ice



Eighth Grade

Champions: M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs

Runners-up: WV Generals

Third place: Tri-State Express 1

Fourth place: Rising Stars

Fifth place: Tri-State Express 2

Sixth place: Raleigh County Hype

All-tournament: Kendall Reynolds, Deondre Murphy (TSE2); Kurtten Brown, Dorian Ethridge (RS); John Dawson, Keith Clemons (TSE1); Collin Miller, Michael Karl (MM); Tarek Payne, Tamon Scruggs (WVG)

Division MVP: Timmy Dalton, M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs