Patriots win Class 1A, Area 4 crown

Linden champsLINDEN — The Linden High Patriots (22-2) won their fourth straight area title Monday with an 81-71 victory over Sunshine (12-10) in the Class 1A, Area 4 tournament.

The visiting Tigers took a brief 16-15 lead in the first quarter and never held an advantage again. Linden led 21-19 after the first and opened the lead up to 45-32 by half.

Junior guard Imoras Agee, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scored 19 points in the first half en route to 37 in the game while also snagging seven rebounds for the Patriots.

No other Patriot scored in double figures in the contest as Shauka Reese added nine and Nicholas Rogers, Jalen Lewis and Chris Rogers each scored eight. Nicholas and Chris Rogers grabbed nine rebounds apiece.

Cletrell Pope led Sunshine, who got only as close as nine in the second half, with 24 points and 16 rebounds. Walter Jones Jr. added 17 points while Keonta Edwards had 15.

Linden out-rebounded the Tigers 40-31 in the contest. Sunshine shot a total of 42 free throws on the night but made only 23 of the attempts. By contrast, Linden was 16-of-21 from the line.

Linden is scheduled to host McIntosh Friday night in subregional action while Sunshine travels to St. Luke’s.

The Class 1A, Area 4 All-Tournament team included A.L. Johnson’s Walter Hinton, Akron’s Quin Jeffery, the John Essex trio of Cedric Cooks, Joshua Moore and Anthony McIntosh, the Sunshine trio of Edwards, Pope and Jones and Linden’s Agee, Reese, Lewis and Nicholas Rogers.