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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

The annual Frank Spencer Holiday Classic ended on Saturday night, but Santa Claus left a lump of coal in the stockings for top-seeded West Forsyth.  

Just four days before Christmas, second-seeded Mount Tabor throttled West Forsyth 71-51 with the help of 33 points from tournament-MVP Snook Peterkin in the championship Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Bracket this past Saturday night at Mount Tabor.  

“I was disappointed in our effort, but also I’ll credit – we wasn’t ready,” said Coach Marlon Brim of the Titans (6-1). “I didn’t coach them ready. I didn’t get them ready, so I take full responsibility tonight. But like I said, Tabor played well and we wasn’t ready for the moment.” 

As for Spartans (7-2), they dominated their Central Piedmont 4-A rival in winning the 49th Frank Spencer Holiday Classic. It also continues a miserable streak for West Forsyth against Mount Tabor. 

“Everybody in the league didn’t expect it, but I expected it,” Coach Andy Muse of Mount Tabor said. “West Forsyth hasn’t beat us since 2017. It wasn’t happening tonight. That’s what we talked about. Our guys had energy. They had effort. We wanted more than their guys did.” 

West Forsyth (6-1) has not defeated Mount Tabor since 2017, a streak that goes back 14 meetings against Mount Tabor.  

“I think conference is what we’ve got next,” Brim said. “We’ve got another Christmas tournament coming up, but we also have conference is our next goal. So, we understand what a loss is. A loss is a loss, but it doesn’t define our season. I think we’re still one of the best teams in the area, if not the state, but, you know, one loss doesn’t define us.” 

Winning the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic has become a pretty regular occurrence for Mount Tabor. Saturday’s win against the Titans was the eighth championship for the Spartans, all under Muse.  

“I’ve been blessed,” Muse said. “I’ve been blessed. I’ve been blessed with a bunch of players That’s what that means. I’ve got a great staff. Great night. Getting the Frank with my dad and my son, so I’m sure happy.” 

Not only has Muse won eight Spencer championships, his family has won 15 as head coaches with various teams. Andy’s brother, Mike, has won four championships. Andy’s father Tom, who is on Andy’s staff at Mount Tabor, has won two championships, and Andy’s son, Adam, won one championship when he was the head coach at Reagan and is now an assistant on the Mount Tabor staff.  

“It’s another Frank Spencer championship,” Andy Muse said. “We go on to the next game. We’ve got another game next Monday. We put it behind us. It’s about the next game.” 

As for Saturday night, Mount Tabor darted out to a 12-0 lead before Kamauri Manuel of West Forsyth hit a jumper with 4:13 left to make it 12-2. West Forsyth came back and trimmed the lead to 18-13 on a layup by Jacari Brim, Marlon Brim’s son, with 1:17 left in the first quarter.  

Jacari Brim finished with 13 points Saturday night.  

“I thought we executed, and I thought we took (Jacari) Brim out of the picture,” Andy Muse said. “When you take him out of the picture they’re not as good.” 

Neither team could get anything going early in the second quarter. However, the Spartans extended the lead to 30-16 with 1:46 left in the quarter on a shot by Amare Robinson. 

“We was down six, eight at one time,” Marlon Brim said. “Every time we would get a close call or the ball didn’t bounce our way, they hit a three or got a shot and scored. So, our hats go off to Tabor tonight.” 

Mount Tabor led 33-21 at halftime, but West Forsyth trimmed the lead to 35-26 after a three-point by Jordan Tate with 5:58 left in the third quarter. Tate led all scorers for West Forsyth with 14 points.  

However, Peterkin answered with a 3-pointer with 5:24 left to push the lead back to 12. Mount Tabor never by less than 12 points the rest of the game.  

Will Koonin and Jayden Mantooth added 14 points apiece for the Spartans. 

Aside from Peterkin winning MVP, Tate and Jacari Brim from West Forsyth, Robinson and Koonin from Mount Tabor, and Jayden McCrae of Reagan were named all-tournament.  

“I think Amare Robinson had a great tournament. Koonin had a great tournament,” Andy Muse said. “Snook, he’s the best player in Winston-Salem and one of the top-five best players in the state of North Carolina.” 

The fourth quarter continued to snowball for West Forsyth. Mount Tabor led by as many as 26 after Jayden Smith-Muhfooth made two free throws with 1:39 left. 

“We’ve just got to play hard. Gotta got to play for 32 minutes,” Marlon Brim said. “And you’ve got to take every game different. You know, we know we’re one of the best teams in this area, but you’ve got to prove that. Proving it means don’t show up. Prove it means you’ve got to play to show it.” 

West Forsyth will play Thursday-Saturday in the Yellow Jacket Christmas Classic in Sanford. West Forsyth is scheduled to play at 1 p.m. on Thursday against St. Pauls. On Friday, West Forsyth will either play Apex Middle Creek or Western Harnett.  

“Like we told them, the feeling that we had (Saturday night), you don’t want that feeling, so you’ve got to play better,” Marlon Brim said. “We’ve got to play three games and we’ve got to play 32 minutes.” 

In the first-round game of the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic this past Wednesday against No. 8 Northwest Guilford, Jacari Brim led West Forsyth with 24 points to help West Forsyth win 73-57 at Mount Tabor. 

West Forsyth led 23-8 after the first quarter and 39-16 at halftime. West Forsyth extended the lead to 57-24 on a 3-pointer by Manuel with 1:46 left in the third quarter.  

Tate added 15 points and Manuel finished with 10. 

“We felt like we could go full-court man (defense), and we feel like, if we want to win that’s how we’ve got to play,” Marlon Brim said. “So, that’s how we’ve got to be.” 

Gavin Pearson led the Vikings with 14 points and Caleb Palombo chipped in with 13.  

In the semifinals this past Friday against No. 4 Reagan at Mount Tabor, Tate led West Forsyth with 17 points to help West Forsyth win 62-54. 

“It’s a rivalry game. It’s also a conference game,” Marlon Brim said. “And you know, we needed a test like this.” 

The Raiders led 6-0, but the Titans came back to take a 19-14 lead after the first quarter. The Titans led by as many as nine in the second quarter, but KJ Ford of the Raiders hit a layup with 5.2 seconds left in the second quarter to trim the Titans’ lead to 30-28 at halftime.  

Reagan regained the lead with 6:49 left in the third quarter after Lincoln Jackson made two free throws to make it 32-30. However, Manuel nailed a 3-pointer with 6:32 left in the third quarter to give West Forsyth a 33-32 lead.  

Manuel added 12 points for the Titans and Jacari Brim chipped in with 10.  

The third quarter see-sawed the rest of the way, but West Forsyth took a 44-41 lead after the third quarter.  

Jackson converted a three-point play with 7:41 left in the fourth quarter to tie it at 44-44. However, Tate hit a 3-pointer 20 seconds later to give West Forsyth a 47-44 lead.  

“I think it’s big because the other kids stepped up,” Marlon Brim said. “And Jacari went to the bench with 5 minutes, 6 minutes to go (foul trouble), you know, that was big. You know, we hadn’t had that before. So, the adjustments that Kamauri made, great decision Tate made, great decisions. Max (Skillman) and Princeton (Scott) played well, and Cale (Lloyd) and Arrington (Kee), off the bench, gave up good minutes in the second half.” 

McRae scored with 5:10 left in the fourth quarter to make it 50-49, but West Forsyth made 8 of 12 free throws down the stretch to win.  

“I think that was crucial,” “Marlon Brim said of the free throws. “First of all, it gave us a chance to separate the score…At the end of the day those free throws came in clutch for us, and that’s what we’ve got to do is hit free throws.” 

McRae led Reagan with 19 points and Jackson contributed 10.  

 ——————————————-

CHAMPIONSHIP 

MOUNT TABOR 71, WEST FORSYTH 51 

Mount Tabor;20;13;19;19;–;71 

1. Forsyth;13;8;17;13;–;51

Mount Tabor: Snook Peterkin 33, Robinson 4, Will Koonin 14, Moore 4, O’Gara 2, Jayden Mantooth 14 

West Forsyth: Jacari Brim 13, Manuel 7, Scott 2, Jordan Tate 14, Lloyd 8, Fleming 3, Skillman 2, Wilkins 2 

 

SEMIFINALS  

WEST FORSYTH 62, REAGAN 54 

Reagan;14;14;13;13;–;54 

1. Forsyth;19;11;14;18;–;62

Reagan: KJ Ford 17, Davis 2, Wilson 2, France 2, Jayden McCrae 19, Lincoln Jackson 10, Wilkinson 2 

West Forsyth: Jacari Brim 10, Kamauri Manuel 12, Scott 6, Jordan Tate 17, Fleming 6, Skillman 8, Wilkins 3 

 

FIRST ROUND 

WEST FORSYTH 73, NW GUILFORD 57 

NW Guilford;8;8;19;22;–;57 

1. Forsyth;23;16;20;14;–;73

NW Guilford: Esbrandt 9, Stafford 3, Reavis 2, Jackson 4, Palombo 13, Solheim 8, Stewart 2, Gavin Pearson 14, Ogbeide 2 

West Forsyth: Jacari Brim 24, Kamauri Manuel 10, Scott 6, Jordan Tate 15, Kee 4, Lloyd 1, Adams 4, Skillman 5, Wilkins 4