This impressive set back jumper by West Union’s Bowan Tomlin, right, opened the fourth quarter of Saturday’s championship game and gave the Dragons a seven-point lead on their way to a 68-59 victory. Tomlin scored 29 points in the title game triumph. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter-

Many local basketball fans had been longing for the match up that occurred on Saturday, Dec. 29 in the McDonald’s Holiday Classic on the hardwood of Manchester High School. After squeaking out a three-point win over Peebles on Friday, the West Union Dragons were in the title game and their opponent was the 7-1 North Adams Green Devils, fresh off a victory over the host Greyhounds on Friday night. The fans on hand Saturday night got their money’s worth as a battle between two good basketball teams saw the Dragons claims their second consecutive Classic title, downing the Devils by a final count of 68-59.
“I just want to win basketball games and make these kids better,” said first-year West Union head coach Austin Kingsolver in a postgame radio talk. “We started off slow again tonight and we did a good job of responding to their runs and keeping the lead. We run and sometimes we get a little out of control and gamble too much on defense but I thought we responded better tonight.”
“I was happy with our shot selection and our kids did a good job of switching off on defense and being physical inside.”
In a win where they only trailed for a short portion of the second quarter, the Dragons got a pair of outstanding offensive performances from senior Bowan Tomlin and junior Zane Kingsolver. Tomlin, who recently put up 41 points in a win over Lynchburg, fired in a game-high 29 on Saturday night, including a quartet of three-point goals. The slashing Kingsolver added 24 as the two combined for 78% of the West Union points.
In the opening quarter, after a three-point play in the paint by Austin McCormick gave North Adams a 5-4 lead, the Dragons went on one of their patented blitzkrieg runs, this time 10-2, all of the points from Tomlin and Kingsolver, to go in front 14-7. The Devils bounced back with a 6-2 run to end the quarter and trail the Dragons 16-13 after one.
After trailing most of the first period, the Devils took their only lead of the game early in the second getting a 6-0 run, all of the points courtesy of Cade Meade to lead 19-16, but they could only manage two baskets the final six minutes of the first half, while West Union’s Tomlin went wild. The senior guard began with the old-fashioned three-point play and then put on an impressive display from outside the arc, hitting three-pointers on three consecutive offensive possessions as the Dragons quickly opened up a double digit lead at 30-19. North Adams got late scores from Elijah Young and Cody Rothwell but a Kingsolver bucket in the final seconds sent the Dragons to the halftime break on top 32-23.
The halftime “paint-peeling” likely done by North Adams head coach Nathan Copas must have done some temporary good as his team pulled off an 8-0 run early in the third quarter, capped by a Cameron Young trey that cut the West Union lead down to 34-31. A Kingsolver three doubled the lad back to six, but the Dragons couldn’t pull away again as the Devils went on another run, this time of 6-2 to quickly close the gap to just a single bucket. A layup by Brycen Staten and then another three-pointer from Tomlin in the final seconds of the third period left the Dragons on top 44-39 with the final eight minutes at hand.
The outcome may have been decided on the first two West Union possessions of the final period, as they got a nice ankle-breaking step back jumper from Tomlin and off a North Adams turnover, a bucket by Conner Campbell to extend their lead out to 48-39 and the Devils just never seemed to fully recover. The next six North Adams points came from the senior Rothwell to keep his team within striking distance, but the Dragons continued to score, with a 5-0 spurt giving them a 59-47 lead with 1:57 to play.
The Devils got a three-pointer from Elijah Young and back to back scores from Rothwell and McCormick and a later Rothwell three but the deficit was too much to overcome as the Dragons held on to capture their second consecutive Holiday Classic title by the final score of 68-59.
With their big offensive outputs, Kingsolver and Tomlin both earned All-Tournament honors with Kingsolver being named as the Classic Most Valuable Player, and the Dragons improving to 6-4 on the year, currently in the midst of a four-game winning streak.
In the loss, North Adams (7-2) was led by Rothwell’s 18 points, with McCormick adding 16 and Elijah Young 9. McCormick and Young were named to the Classic All-Tournament Team.

West Union
16 16 12 24 —68
North Adams
13 10 16 20 —59

W. Union (68): Rothwell 0 1-4 1, Staten 2 0-0 4, Madden 1 0-0 2, Tomlin 10 5-5 29, Conner Campbell 3 2-2 8, Kingsolver 8 7-11 24, Team 24 15-22 68.
N. Adams (59): Hesler 0 1-3 1, C. Young 1 0-0 3, Rothwell 8 1-3 18, E. Young 4 0-0 9, C. Meade 6 0-0 12, McCormick 7 2-2 16, Team 26 4-8 59.
Three-Point Goals:
W. Union (5)- Tomlin 4, Kingsolver 1
N. Adams (3)- C. Young 1, Rothwell 1, E. Young 1

West Union’s Zane Kingsolver (22) goes up among three North Adams defenders for a shot attempt in the Dec. 29 Holiday Classic title game played in Manchester. Kingsolver scored 24 points in the finals and was named the Classic Most Valuable Player. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)