BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Bristol, Tenn. – The Rodney McGruder Show stopped in at Viking Hall on Wednesday evening.
For McGruder and his Archbishop Carroll (Washington, D.C.) teammates, it was business as normal. High-flying dunks; deep 3-pointers hoisted and sunk with deceptive ease; tenacious defense and a tight, rhythmic precision on offense.
Tennessee High, however, would have preferred to change the channel.
The Lions easily downed the Vikings 67-49 in the first round of the 25th annual Arby’s Classic tournament at Viking Hall, and McGruder controlled the court like an uncontested king.
“Archbishop Carroll is a good team and they have some kids who can really play,” said Tennessee High coach Roby Witcher. “We thought we had a pretty good game plan to keep their main guys out of the lane. But they were able to do some things we didn’t stop tonight.”
McGruder, a 6-foot-4, 195 pound junior forward headed to Kansas State University, scored 25 points on 11-of-22 shooting to lead the Lions (4-2), while Syracuse University-bound senior forward Kristopher Joseph added 21 points (9 of 15), 12 rebounds and five steals.
Archbishop Carroll recorded 13 steals, forced 19 Tennessee High turnovers and held the Vikings to 13-percent shooting (3 of 23) from behind the 3-point line.
Thomas Turnbull scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Vikings (7-7), while Tre’ Webb added 11 points and two rebounds.
Yet the show belonged to McGruder and Joseph. And their biggest impact was not on the scoreboard or in the win column, but on the crowd in the stands.
Viking Hall rang and buzzed with anticipation as Tennessee High went through warm-up drills on its home court. But as soon as the game started and the McGruder-Joseph tandem went to work, the arena sounded more like a church that had just opened its doors after a Sunday session.
“We’re used to our style of play because of the conference we play in,” said Lions coach Clinton Perrow. “Some teams match up with it; some don’t.”
Archbishop Carroll completely shut down the Vikings’ outside shooting, and the Lions spent the majority of their offensive possessions in freeform fast-break mode, with McGruder and Joseph smoothly running the floor like they were in a pick-up game.
Up 17-13 after the first quarter, Archbishop Carroll turned on the jets in the second period. The Lions turned multiple Tennessee High turnovers into instant transition offense, and went up 22-13 when McGruder slammed down a hard dunk from the right side of the rim early in the quarter.
McGruder then set the bar higher, driving home a major slam with his right hand with 3:42 left in the first half.
“I just tried to take advantage of what their defense gave me,” McGruder said.
The Lions move on to face Science Hill at 5 p.m. on Friday evening in the winner’s bracket of the second round.
Tennessee High will take on Northview (Duluth, Ga.) at 9 a.m. on Friday in the loser’s bracket.

ARCHBISHOP CARROLL (67)
Rodney McGruder 11-22 2-5 25, Kristopher Joseph 9-15 3-5 21, Mitrovic 9-15 3-5 7, George 1-1 2-3 4, Price 0-2 3-4 3, Dunkin 1-3 0-0 3, Vincent 0-3 2-2 2, Sumlar 1-1 0-1 2, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Pakieser 0-0 0-0 0, Stoutamire 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 13-22 67.
TENNESSEE HIGH (49)
Thomas Turnbull 6-11 4-5 16, Tre’ Webb 5-11 0-0 11, Harmon 2-7 2-4 6, Baker 2-8 0-0 5, Cook 2-2 0-0 4, Gilmore 1-5 0-0 3, Young 1-6 0-0 2, McClintic 0-0 2-2 2, Morenings 0-3 0-0 0, Walton 0-0 0-0 0, Pierson 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Canty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 8-11 49.
Archbishop Carroll 17 17 18 15—67
Tennessee High 13 8 15 13—49
3-point goals—AC 2-5 (McGruder, Dunkin), TH 3-23 (Webb, Baker, Gilmore). Rebounds—AC 28, TH 32. Assists—AC 11, TH 9. Steals—AC 13, TH 5. Blocks—AC 2, TH 2. Turonvers—AC 14, TH 19. Fouls—AC 9, TH 12. Fouled out—None. Technicals—None.