Finch's 26 points leads Broughton past Julian Newman and Downey Christian

By: Zack Adams

12/27/17

(Photo Courtesy of The John Wall)

The "Julian Newman Show" stormed into Raleigh as his Downey Christian School Patriots (FL) met the tournament host, Brougton to kick off the 2017 John Wall Holiday Invitational.

This opener was more than any of us in attendance could have asked for. From the ooooo's and ahhhh's, to the chants, to the shooting, to the dunks; just everything about this year's Holiday opener was fantastic. Broughton (11-0) downed Newman and Downey Christian School (7-7), 71-51 to open day one.

Broughton senior combo guard Jalen Finch had himself a day. Finch finished with 26 to lead all scorers. He finished 3/4 from three and 5/6 from the foul line. To complement Finch's big day, Tyler Palmer finished with 10 for the Capitals, eight of those coming in the first half.

It definitely was not the opening of The John Wall that Julian Newman or any of his teammates expected. The team from Orlando suffered a 20 point defeat in their tournament opener. Newman also did not have his best of performances. The now six year varsity basketball player finished with 12 points for the Patriots. He shot 1/6 from three but 7/8 from the foul line. Leading Downey Christian though was senior Nick Santos. Santos finished with 14 as he knocked down three triples. Coach Newman did have a big day on the glass from Theodore Wolfe. Wolfe scored 11 points while grabbing 11 of the team's 25 rebounds.

Broughton guard DJ Thomas had himself a solid game finishing with seven points, four boards, and four dimes but he was the guy tasked with handling "The YouTube Sensation" Julian Newman for most of the contest. Thomas shared that duty with guard Darian Williams, who came off the bench and played 14 minutes of great defense on the flashy Newman. Both got into Newman's head as the sophomore was held to only five points in the first 16 minutes of play. The defensive duo did not give up any points to Newman in the second half as all of his seven second half points came from the foul line. Newman coming into this game was averaging 33.1 points per game. Thomas and Williams only allowing him to score 12 is a huge performance on defense from two of Jeff Ferrell's Caps. Now the only question is can Broughton carry this defense over into what could be a David West Bracket Championship run for the host team.

Great crowd atmosphere to open up the tournament. "Overrated" chants, near cross overs, and big time three pointers are what highlighted the Capitals 20 point victory over Downey Christian. The gym was packed for this one as well, which is very rare for a 1:45 game here at the Holiday.

Downey Christian will return to the court tomorrow morning at 10:30 against the loser of Greenfield School and Kinston while Broughton will take the winner of "The 252" battle Thursday at 1:45.