LaGRANGE — Jonathan Hammond scored 22 points to lead Class AA co-No. 4 state ranked Griffin Christian past No. 3-ranked LaGrange Academy 69-57 Friday night in GISA Region 4-AA action as the Crusaders (9-6 overall, 2-1 region) won their second in a row and LaGrange Academy (5-4, 0-1) lost its fourth in a row.

“We just wore them down on defense,” said Griffin Christian head coach Mic Savage.

Griffin Christian’s game plan going in was to limit LaGrange’s best player, guard Mayokun Oshinowo, who had been scoring 30 or more points a game.

“He scored 14 points in the first quarter and then we went to a diamond-and-one and put a man on him,” Savage said. “It worked, we held him to four points in the second quarter and six in the second half — and you could say three — because he hit a three with about a minute to play and we were trying not to foul anyone.”

Griffin Christian pressured the ball and went from trailing 18-17 at the end of the ffirst quarter to sitting in a 29-all tie at the half and leding 53-42 going into the fourth quarter where they outscored Lagrange 16-15 for the 12-point win.

“We didn’t rebound well,” said Savage. “They got a lot of second-chance points.”

Rounding out Griffin Christian’s leading scorers were Amir Hightower (15 points), Aaron McCray (11) and Wil Savage (9). McCray added a team-high 5 rebounds and Hammond had a team-high 4 assists.

“It’s like Wil said, ‘We didn’t play well, but we played hard,’” said coach Savage.

Griffin Christian continues its season with a non-region game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at home against the Class AAA Westfield School (7-5).