By ANTHONY STEVENS bdtonline.com

BRISTOL, Va. — The Honaker Tigers advanced to the finals of the Bearcat Invitational with a 73-56 win over Sullivan South, in a double play for Honaker.

Not only did they advance to the championship, the Tigers coach Marcus Dunham picked up his 100th career win.

“I give all the credit to the guys I’ve coached,” said Dunham. “All the players and I couldn’t ask for a better coaching staff. I’ve had great support from everyone, it’s been a blessing to be here.”

It was a close ballgame throughout the first half. The lead was only 33-27 at halftime.

“I’m very pleased, I’m tickled to death with these kids,” Dunham said. “The kids were a little frustrated because a lot of people were doubting them, so I said prove those doubters wrong.”

The Tigers had a great third quarter. They pounded the ball inside to 6-foot-8 post Tanner Robinette and outscored South 25-13 in the third stanza. Robinette had 13 of his 29 points in the third.

“Tanner played a whale of a game,” said Dunham. “He has been sick; we didn’t know how good he would be. I ask him if he could give us 32 minutes and he said whatever I need to do to get us the W.

“He played hard, he put the team on his shoulders in the third quarter and went to work.”

Honaker was able to keep the momentum throughout the second half.

Robinette also grabbed 14 rebounds and had six blocks. Hartley Hilton was solid with 10 points for the Tigers. The Rebels had problems inside and with Honaker’s transition play, they attacked the basket the entire night.

“33 (Robinette) and 4 (Brett Boyd) really hurt us,” South coach Mark Pendleton said. “We tried to play them zone and it seemed like they just picked us apart.

“In the second half we wanted to speed the game up a little, but we didn’t have any success with that either.”

The Rebels were led by Garrett Bowery with 15 points and Evan Morris with 11 points.

Honaker will face a good John Battle team in the finals at the Bearcat Den tonight at approximately 8:30 p.m. John Battle took an impressive 96-64 win over Castlewood in the other semifinal game.

Graham will play host Virginia High at 3 o’clock today in a consolation contest

At the Bearcat Den

SULLIVAN SOUTH

Copas 2 5-6 9, Morris 4 0-0 11, Phebus 2 0-0 4, Bowery 6 2-2 15, Ward 4 0-0 8, Crawford 0 0-0 0, Compton 0 0-0 0, Carico 2 0-0 5, Depew 1 0-1 2, Bewley 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 7-9 56.

HONAKER

Sample 3 2-2 8, Boyd 3 0-0 9, Hilton 3 3-3 10, Stinson 0 7-10 7, Robinette 11 7-12 29, Phillips 0 0-0 0, Harman 0 0-0 0, Eaton 2 0-0 4, Coleman 2 0-0 4, Wilson 0 2-4 2, Short 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 21-33 73.

Sullivan South.......10 17 13 16 — 56

Honaker..................13 20 25 15 — 73

3-point goals – Sullivan South 5 (Morris 3, Bowery 1, Carico 1), Honaker 4 (Boyd 3, Hilton 1). Total fouls – Sullivan South 23, Honaker 12. Fouled out - none. Technicals – none.