Hargrave Post-Grad Basketball Team Achieves Perfect Ending

Most things in life are more rewarding if they are earned.

By Drew Wilson
“Hargrave Post-Grad Basketball Team Achieves Perfect Ending” first appeared Thursday, March 13, 2008, in the Danville Register & Bee. Drew Wilson is a Register & Bee sports editor. Copyright 2008 by the Danville Register & Bee. Reprinted with permission.

Most things in life are more rewarding if they are earned. The Hargrave Military Academy post-graduate basketball players can attest to that.

The Tigers defeated Findlay College Prep 75-73 in the National Prep Invitational championship game at Fordham University on Sunday, giving top-ranked Hargrave the national title and a perfect 29-0 season.

It’s not Hargrave’s first national championship. The program won one in 2003-04, but that may as well have an asterisk by it. That team got the honor by being the No. 1 team at the end of the year, not by cutting down the nets. This year’s squad earned it through a tournament featuring eight of the best prep schools in the country.

“It feels more rewarding,” said Hargrave’s Dee Bost, the tournament’s most valuable player. “It gives us the advantage to say we went and played the top-eight teams and still finished undefeated and won.”

The Hargrave players celebrated their championship on Wednesday in front a packed gym as part of a “Welcome home” festivity that included an exhibition of dunks.

“It was a good last get-together with the team and the whole school,” Hargrave’s Damier Pitts said. “We just had fun out there.”

Hargrave defeated St. Thomas More School in the first round and then beat Brewster Academy to get to the final against Findlay College Prep. The championship gave the Tigers a new feeling – one of a close game, something they hadn’t had to deal hardly at all this year.

“We had a tough game from the beginning and we knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Bost said. “We knew the championship game wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. We knew we had to come to play from the beginning.”

Ahead 75-72 in the final moments, Hargrave coach Kevin Keatts elected to foul Findlay’s DeAndre Liggins and put him on the four line for a one-and-one with 1.4 seconds to play. Liggins made the first free throw, and he purposely missed the second to give Findlay a shot to tie the game. Findlay’s Curtis Dennis got the rebound and put up a shot, but Hargrave’s Chris Braswell blocked it to save the win.

“It was a heck of a game till the end,” Keatts recalled. “I thought we missed some free throws down the stretch that could have put it away a little earlier. But give Findlay Prep credit, they kept plugging away and at the end we ended up pulling it out.”

Bost had 26 points, five rebounds and three steals in the final. Pitts added 22 points, eight rebounds and three steals and Braswell finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.

“Dee Bost had one of the best national tournaments that you could ever ask for from a kid,” Keatts said. “He was very active. In the three days, he had 90 points and averaged about 30 points a game. He played an incredible floor game defensively and offensively.”

Now that their season is over, the players will eventually head off to their respective colleges. Bost will leave for Mississippi State, Pitts to Marshall and Braswell to Georgetown, to name a few.

“I love this team,” Pitts said. “It’s never going to be the same because you’ll have different teammates. But this was a special team.”

At least they’ll have the memories of a 29-0 season and Hargrave’s first national championship won through a tournament. And for Pitts, the final play will be one of the things he’ll never forget about the season.

“I’ll remember Chris’ block at the end,” Pitts said. “It felt so good. As soon as he got the block, we all knew it was over.”

Hargrave Military Academy logo.