Fork Union knocks off Fishburne, 81-70, in Caissons Classic final

Fork Union got 23 points from Detwon Shelton and a couple of clutch defensive stops late in an 81-70 win over Fishburne in the championship game of the 2016 Caissons Classic.

Fishburne had advanced to the title game with an impressive 82-32 win over Massanutten Military Academy on Friday night, but the Caissons could not get untracked against FUMA, which opened up an eight-point lead midway through the first quarter and led 42-30 at the half.

FMS made it interesting in the fourth quarter. An 8-1 run, punctuated by a three-pointer from Tyree Scott, cut the deficit to five, at 59-54, with 6:02 to go.

Back-to-back threes from Fork Union guard Dontae Thornton seemed to put the game away, the second of the long-range shots making it 72-59 with 2:28 to go.

But Fishburne would whittle the margin back down to five with an 11-3 run, the final three coming on three free throws from John Hendler that made it 75-70 FUMA with 54.5 seconds left.

Antonio Pelham knocked down both ends of a 1-and-1 to push the lead back to seven, and then came the defensive stops. The Caissons missed their final eight shots from the floor in the final 52.5 seconds, and FUMA put the game away at the charity stripe.

Kian Tate had a game-high 29 points for Fishburne, which also got 12 points from Scott and 10 from Hendler.

FMS was 22-of-71 (30.9 percent) from the floor and committed 15 turnovers, 12 in the first half.

“Fork Union is always tough with the pressure they bring,” said Fishburne coach Bryan Greene, whose team falls to 2-3 on the season.

The silver lining in the loss is the fight that the Caissons showed.

“We mounted comebacks at the end of the first quarter, at the end of the third quarter, and had two runs in the fourth quarter. The difference was little things, mental mistakes, getting out of position at times. All things we can work on and improve on,” Greene said.

Fork Union was 29-of-66 from the floor (43.9 percent). In addition to the 23 points put up by Shelton, who was named tournament MVP, FUMA got 19 from Macall Warner, 17 from Pelham and 14 from Dontae Thornton.