The Hargrave Military Academy Postgraduate Basketball team celebrated a second national title after winning the 2016 National Prep Championship at Albertus Mangus College in New Haven, Connecticut on Tuesday, March 9. The championship game between Hargrave and St. Thomas More was a classic nailbiter. St. Thomas More would lose 85-74. Hargrave prevailed over the eleven great prep basketball programs.
“I’m so proud of our players they bought into our culture at Hargrave and have raised the bar to new heights,” Head Coach A.W. Hamilton, Hargrave’s Basketball Program Director, said. “This group will go down in the record books as one the best teams in school history, winning 47 games and a national title will be hard to match.”
Hargrave was nationally ranked first place the entire season. In regular season, the team lost only once and won their last 30 games on their way to the championship. After their victory, the Hargrave Postgraduate Basketball team record for the season was 47-1.
Hargrave Cadet De’Riante Jenkins, #5, was named the MVP for the tournament. A team captain, his leadership proved invaluable as he answered every St. Thomas More point with one of his own. Jenkins earned 28 points in the contest. He is a future VCU Ram.
“We’re not 47 and 1,” Jenkins said. “We’re 47 and won. We won so that loss doesn’t count anymore.”
In the championship game, St. Thomas More jumped to an early lead, but the Hargrave postgraduate team kept its cool, found their groove and started chipping away at the points until they were 46-35 at the half. Hargrave maintains an aggressive full court press that forces turnovers and frustrates an opponet’s offense.
“This is a special group of kids,” Hamilton said. “They deserve this. They really do.”
