Hokie ClubDeron Washington scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 29 minutes of action to help lead his Norfolk Naval Shipyard team to a 96-88 victory over Sales Systems in the opening round of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament at Churchland High School in Portsmouth, Va., on Wednesday night. Washington also had three assists and three blocked shots in the game.
The P.I.T. is the nation's oldest amateur basketball tournament. It is the only tournament for college seniors to participate in and beevaluated by the National Basketball Association prior to the NBA'spre-draft camp in Orlando.
Washington is joined on the Shipyard team by Anthony Morrow from Georgia Tech, Jason Richards of Davidson and A.J. Graves of Butler. Former UVa player Gary Forbes, who finished his career at UMass, led the Shipyard with 26 points. Jiri Hubalek of Iowa State scored 27 points for Sales Systems.
Other ACC players competing in the event are Cliff Hammonds of Clemson, Gavin Grant of NC State and Anthony King of Miami. Other players of note in this year's PIT are Patrick Ewing Jr., and Jonathan Wallace of Georgetown, Kyle Hines of UNC Greensboro, Reggie Williams of VMI, Dwayne Curtis of Mississippi, Chris Lofton of Tennessee, Sundiata Gaines of Georgia and Brian Butch of Wisconsin.
The tournament runs from April 9-12 and is now in its 56th year of competition.