South Iron Captures 4th Straight Arcadia Valley Thanksgiving Tournament Over Fredericktown, AV Gets Third

(Ironton) Last night concluded the 95th Annual Arcadia Valley Thanksgiving Tournament which saw South Iron hoisting its 4th straight championship from the event, defeating Fredericktown 68-37. In the 3rd place game, the host Arcadia Valley held off a late surge from the West County Bulldogs winning 67-62.

In our first broadcast game, the AV Tigers controlled the first half and got out to a big lead early. West County went on a short run, but the Tigers were able to answer. They went on a 7-0 run to go into the half.

An exciting third quarter led to a barrage of three-pointers from West County freshman Ty Harlow to narrow the gap. But Tigers junior Jackson Dement had a response.

While West County would come raging back and get it to single digits, Arcadia Valley found a way to make free throws and manage the fourth quarter behind Jackson Dement, who finished the game as our Applebee’s of Farmington Player of the Game with 18 points 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. Head Coach Erik Thompson talks a little more about the 6-5 forward.

In the championship game, South Iron got out to an early lead thanks to the hot hand of senior Drenin Dinkins.

Dinkins was named our Applebee’s of Farmington Player of the game with a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds. South Iron senior D.J. Prater also had a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards and this highlight-worthy two-hand jam.

It’s the fourth consecutive A-V Thanksgiving Tournament championship for South Iron and their 15th since 1999. Panthers head coach Dusty Dinkins talked to us after the game about playing in the longest-running basketball tournament in the Show-Me state.

South Iron improves to 3-0. They’ll take the week off and resume play next Friday against East Carter. Fredericktown is 2-0 and will get back to the hardwood on December 6th against Kingston. Arcadia Valley improves to 2-1 and will be back on the hardwood Tuesday at Lesterville. West County falls to 1-2 and will travel to Neelyville tomorrow (Saturday).

Full Interview with Erik Thompson: