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Thompson defended its home court and secured the Discover Shelby Thompson Thanksgiving Invitational championship after capping a 3-0 week with a dramatic overtime victory over Helena. (For the Reporter/Jeremy Raines)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – After starting out their home Thanksgiving Tournament with a 63-43 win over the Chelsea Hornets and a 66-49 victory over the Childersburg Tigers, the Thompson Warriors faced the stiffest challenge of the entire tournament: the Helena Huskies.

After the Huskies took down the Warriors less than a week before that on their home floor, the setting flipped to Warrior Arena with the added stakes of the Discover Shelby Thompson Thanksgiving Invitational championship up for grabs.

It came down to an overtime finish, but Thompson claimed the championship thanks to a 78-68 win over Helena on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

Both offenses came out firing in the first quarter, but it was Ethan Hudson who tipped the scales in the Warriors’ favor in the opening eight minutes. Hudson knocked down a trio of 3-pointers and scored 11 of his team’s 19 first-quarter points.

Six different Huskies worked together to counter the outburst, but Thompson held a 19-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

However, Helena’s defense locked in during the second quarter, holding the Warriors to just one made basket from the field while Thompson went 8-for-9 from the free throw line.

Torrey Ward led the balanced Huskies offense with four points after going scoreless in the opening quarter. Helena outscored the Warriors 13-10 in the second to cut the halftime deficit to 29-27.

Seeing an opportunity with it being one-score game at the half, the Huskies came out and took the third quarter by storm, outscoring Thompson 23-15 during that stretch.

The third quarter was mainly a two-man battle between Helena’s Joseph King and the Warriors’ Daeshaun Morrissette. King dropped 13 points in the third while Morrissette scored 12.

However, it was the supporting casts who made the biggest difference, as Thompson could only add on a Jason Parker 3-pointer while the Huskies tacked on buckets from five other scorers. That gave Helena a 50-44 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Warriors defense stepped up in the final eight minutes and cut the Huskies’ scoring output by more than half compared to the third quarter, surrendering just nine points in the fourth compared to the third-quarter’s 23-point frenzy.

Morrissette and Jaden Love combined for 15 points in the fourth quarter to help the offense rally back and tie the game.

Helena nearly had the game won at the buzzer, but the officials called a charge on the Huskies to negate the game-winner, sending the teams to overtime tied at 59-59.

From there, both offenses erupted in a high-scoring overtime, combining for 30 points in the extra period.

While the Huskies did much of their damage from inside the arc, Thompson did it everywhere else. Hudson scored two 3-pointers and Love hit another while Morrissette went 9-for-10 from the free throw line in overtime alone.

That gave the Warriors enough points to pull away from Helena and secure the 10-point win in overtime.

For Thompson, Morrissette finished the game with 38 points, 19 of which came from the free throw line. Hudson scored 17 points off five 3-pointers, Love had nine points and Landyn Smith and Carson McKenney each scored five points apiece.

King led the Huskies with 25 points. Denton McDonald earned 12 points, Elijah Hudson scored nine points, Kevin Pinkard had seven points, Drew Davis and Ward each scored six points and Nate Ferguson rounded out the team with five points.

The 5-3 Warriors will return to action on the road at Pell City on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7:15 p.m. Helena is now 3-2 following the tournament and will face Gardendale on the road for the team’s next game on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m.

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