Hargrave Tigers Win Season Opener Over S3 Academy, 80-67, in Coach Burnette’s First Home Game
CHATHAM, Va. – The Hargrave Tigers opened the 2026-27 season with an 80-67 win over the S3 Academy Panthers on Friday night at historic Walter Davis Gymnasium. It was the first career win for head coach Austin Burnette.
Nerves showed early in a physical game that the officials called tightly. After falling behind early, Jim Gatehouse hit a three to bring the teams level at 10 with 11 minutes left in the first half. Soon after Tyler Caouette made a key steal to continue the momentum for the Tigers. Due to some first game jitters, Hargrave allowed the Panthers to stay in the game but then took the lead with 4:12 left in the half after switching to a zone defense. This was one of the great coaching moves by Coach Burnette and S3 struggled to pass through the Tigers length. As the clock dwindled in the first half the game got a bit sloppy with both teams getting well into the double bonus. Gatehouse collected an and 1 three with 2:10 to go to which proved to be the breaking point for the game. The Tigers were able to extend their lead to 7 and we went to the break with a score of 37-30.
S3 Academy ran into foul trouble in the second half, with two key players carrying four fouls with 15 minutes left. Despite both players being able to avoid the 5th foul for the rest of the game, they were not able to play the aggressive basketball that kept them even in the first half. Hargrave quickly extended their lead to 10 and then were able to keep the Panthers at bay for the remainder of the game. The Tigers were able to close out and extend their lead due to great shooting behind both the free throw and three point lines.
Jim Gatehouse led the Tigers with 24 points, and Chris King added 19 and DJ West 13. For S3 Academy, Isaac Monthe scored 22, and Desmond Clark and RT Mickleberry each had 15.
