Arlington Wins 2021 Ketcham Holiday Tournament

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. - For the second time in three tournaments, the Arlington Admirals are holiday tournament champions, as they’ve won the 2021 Ketcham Holiday Tournament championship, defeating Our Lady of Lourdes, 74-57.

“It feels amazing,” said Tournament MVP Delano Knox. “It’s like a full circle. I won the championship my freshman year, lost my sophomore year, we came back this year in a tiebreaker. I really wanted to win this and finish off my high school career on a high note… It feels amazing.”

The Admirals won their seventh holiday tournament championship, their first since 2018. In 2019, the Admirals lost to the Warriors in the championship. In this year’s grudge match between the two schools, Arlington came out on top.

“​​It meant a lot,” Arlington head coach Jamie Feicht said. “I reminded the guys of that. It hurt, it stung a lot. Ian and Delano were both on that team and they remembered the feeling, and they were determined to not lose this game. We kept our foot on the pedal defensively.”

For the Admirals, it was all Knox and Ian Griffin Jr. on Thursday.

The two of them got things going early, combining for 19 of Arlington’s 25 first quarter points. It didn’t stop there.

Lourdes got into foul trouble early, forcing Chris Faughnan to the bench with three fouls and Jason Adams with two. With the two of them headed to the bench, Arlington got their lead up to 13 at halftime.

In the second half, Knox and Griffin Jr. continued to dominate. The Admirals lead got to as many as 23 in the third quarter. They held strong in the final period to secure the championship win. 

“Ian and Delano are both low-key, nice young men and incredible athletes,” Feicht said. “Ian gives us that dimension where, if teams want to double team Delano, they have to deal with Ian, and that’s not an easy thing to do. When you have those guys playing well and the defense is so focused on them, it frees up other people. We had some threes and big shots from other guys who do chip in.”

Knox finished with 25 points and Griffin Jr. had 22. 

“They played a great game, those two played great,” Lourdes head coach Jim Santoro said. “Their supporting cast stepped up. We were never in it. They outplayed us from top to bottom… My hats off to those guys, they simply outplayed us. It was their night”

Patrick Faughnan led the Warriors with 12 points; Adams had 10 and Chris Faughnan had 9.

Lourdes is now 3-2 on season. They will open up 2022 at Poughkeepsie on Jan. 4.

“When you’re playing against a team like Arlington, we’re only going to get better from it,” Santoro said. “It’s not league play, it’s not postseason, it’s not one-and-done. Yeah, our pride is a little hurt, but that game is going to make it that much better.”

Arlington leaves the tournament 3-0 and is now 5-2 on the year. 

“It certainly helps your confidence to win it, that’s three games in a row,” Feicht said. “You take a little momentum from that. But it’s right back to work. I don’t think Ketcham is gonna care that we won this. They’ll be right at us come Wednesday. We’ve gotta get ready for our league and hopefully keep the “W” train going”

Arlington’s championship concluded the four-day 2021 Ketcham Holiday Tournament.

By Tom Seipp (@Tom_Seipp & tomwseipp@gmail.com)