Jasper — VALDOSTA- The Hamilton County High varsity boys basketball team attended Valdosta State University team summer camp on June 11-12 and left with more than what they came into camp with a championship trophy. 

After losing six seniors from last year's team, this camp was a good barometer for seeing what the "new" team can do.  

The Trojans ended up with an 8-1 overall record mostly against schools from the state of Georgia. The only two Florida teams in the camp actually met in the championship game Hamilton and  Madison.

On Friday, Hamilton played three games with the first one being against Fitzgerald County, GA. The Trojans started out well and mixed up their pressure defenses with a full court man to man and a half court trap to help extend their lead. HC ended up winning by a final score of 54-17 as everyone was able to get plenty of playing time.

Two hours later, Hamilton took on Tift County, GA. where they fell behind early by as many as 16 points. At the half, Tift led 37-26 but Hamilton had already begun chipping away at the Tift lead.

In the second half, the Trojans continued their comeback, took the lead in the final two minutes of the game and held on for a 59-54 victory. 

Another two hours after the Tift game, the Trojans played their third and final Friday game against local rival Echols County, GA. Once again, Hamilton started out strong and grabbed an early lead.

The Trojans continued to apply defensive pressure and coupled that with a team effort on the offensive side of the ball and defeated the Wildcats 71-52 to end the first day of camp with an undefeated 3-0 record.

The following morning, Hamilton took on Metter County, GA and used a full court man to man defense and solid offensive teamwork to build a 46-21 half time lead.

However, we came out a little flat in the second half, loss their defensive intensity and made a few turnovers on offense.

Metter used those things along with tenacity to make a valiant comeback. But the Trojans fought back and held on with heady play and strong defense to come away with a 66-61 victory.

At noon on Saturday, Hamilton faced yet another Georgia team in Berrien County. This was a close battle all the way throughout as teams exchanged blows with solid teamwork and defense.

With the Trojans clinging to a 50-48 lead and only 15 seconds left in the game, Berrien capitalized off of a missed double dribble violation by making a layup while being fouled by a Trojan player. After making the free throw, Berrien led 51-50. Hamilton didn't score on their possession and had to foul and Berrien made both free throws to help cap off the win for Berrien with a score of 53-50.

It was the Trojans' first loss of the camp and would prove to be their only loss.

Hamilton finished pool play by taking on Atkinson County, GA in a game that featured teams who were basically mirror images of one another.

Both teams like to push the tempo, be aggressive, and play pressure defense. This was another closely fought battle all the way through with neither team holding more than a six point lead at any time. Atkins scored the first six points of the game and Coach Patrick Murphy used his only timeout of the half (camp rules say each team only gets one timeout per half) to regroup the troops.

Hamilton immediately responded and both teams played extremely hard. Things got tense in the second half with tempers flaring for players on both teams.

Cooler heads prevailed and, although there was a questionable free throw line violation called on the Trojans that took away a made free throw and gave Atkins once last chance to tie the game, Hamilton played solid defense and still prevailed with a final score of 52-49.

The victory made Hamilton's record 5-1 for pool play and they were able to enjoy a two hour rest before starting single elimination tournament play at 5 p.m. 

As a result of having one of the best records in camp, Hamilton  received a first round bye in the single elimination tournament. Hamilton then played in the second round game against Fitzgerald County, GA. Fitzgerald jumped out early on the Trojans and slowed the tempo down to their liking.

Using a zone defense and good ball-control, Fitzgerald frustrated the Trojans and held a 22-6 halftime lead; by far the least amount of points in a half all weekend for the Trojans.

Hamilton talked at halftime about not ending a good weekend playing like they were, staying focused, and turning up their intensity on the defensive end. The reality was that Fitzgerald only made three baskets themselves. The other 16 points was scored from the free throw line (camp rules indicate that one free throw is worth two points or 3 points depending on where the shooter was fouled shooting the shot until the final two minutes of each contest) where Fitzgerald made 8 of 9 attempts. Hamilton was called for 12 fouls to Fitzgerald's three for the first half. 

Things changed drastically in the second half as Hamilton used aggressive full court defensive pressure and good shot selection to mount a major comeback in the second half.

While Fitzgerald did their best to ward off the charging Trojans, it was to no avail as Hamilton went on to win the game 49-45 and advanced to the final four where they played Groveton, GA. 

Using the momentum and energy built up from the previous win, the Trojans had to play right after that game at 6 p.m.

While it was close early in the game, it didn't take long for Hamilton to take control of this contest, securing an 8 point lead at the half. Hamilton built their lead to as many as 18 points in the second half and even slowed the game down some (which is not their normal routine) in order to give players some rest after having played 7 1/2 games in two days.

The strategy worked as the entire team contributed to the 47-31 victory, sending the Trojans to the championship game against local rival Madison at 7 p.m. 

After walking from one gym to another gym and stopping to drink water and eat some fruit, Hamilton began the championship game against the Madison Cowboys.

Because of playing their third consecutive game without rest and having to endure muscle cramps from several players, Hamilton's strategy was to buy some time in the first half by actually slowing the pace down, play solid zone defense and keep the game close. They did just that. Although they trailed by as many as 11 points, the Trojans hung around and went into halftime, trailing the Cowboys by 8 points.

To begin the second half, Hamilton turned up both the tempo and the defensive pressure and mounted a quick comeback.

With about 10 minutes left to play in the game, the score was close and the game went back and forth. Both teams played extremely hard with neither team backing down.

After a steal and layup put the Trojans up 47-44, Madison was forced to try and intentionally miss a free throw and get the rebound but the attempt failed.

After two more Hamilton free throws, that was the game as the Trojans held off the Cowboys 49-46. 

Head coach Patrick Murphy was very proud of the team's overall effort, attitude, toughness, and "togetherness" and is looking forward to the 2010-2011 season.