Griffin Christian’s Wil Savage (11) drives during a game Dec. 11 at home against Furtah.
The Griffin Christian girls team (6-6) also snapped a two-game losing streak and avenged a 25-point loss to Trinity a month earlier.
“The girls played good — probably the best they’ve played this year,” said Lady Crusaders head coach David Hammond.
This time Griffin Christian stayed in control throughout, leading 10-8 at the end of the first quarter, 29-21 at the half and 39-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
Rounding out Griffin Christian’s top scorers were Katy Hammond with 16 points and Leyah Brown with 6 points and 8 assists.
In the late game Saturday, a shorthanded Crusaders team (8-6) — which was without several of its tallest players — changed strategies to its advantage.
“We went to a one post, four guard set and pressured the and used the run and gun to make as many shots as we could hit,” said Crusaders head coach Mic Savage.
When the dust cleared Jonathan Hammond and Aaron McCray had 17 points each, while Alec Marierose added 10 and Jairus Bethel had 8 and Amir Hightower 5 in a game GCHS led 27-9 at the end of the first quarter, 50-28 at the half and 77-47 going into the fourth quarter.
Both Griffin Christian teams opened the tournament with a loss Friday against the host school, the Lady Crusaders 53-38 and Crusaders 92-86.
“They killed us on the boards,” said Crusaders head coach Mic Savage, whose three tallest players were out for one
See Crusaders/Page A9
reason or another. “We basically played with five guards — they had three forwards who were all 6-foot-3 or better, including a 6-foot-7 center and another forward who was 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5. So they basically shot until they made it.”
Aaron McCray pulled in a team-high 8 of his team’s 26 rebounds.
“They easily had twice as many rebounds,” Savage noted.
Jonathan Hammond scored 25 of his 32 points on the night in the first half as Crusaders led 23-20 at the end of the first quarter and trailed by only one, 49-48, at the half. However, The Heritage School used its size advantage to wear Griffin Christian down in the second half as it carried a 69-65 into the fourth quarter where it outscored Griffin Christian 23-21 to secure the victory.
Jonathan Hammond ended the game with 3 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Rounding out GCHS’s leading scorers were Wil Savage with 15 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 block and 6 steals, and McCray with 11 points, 9 assists and 8 steals.
In the early game Friday, the Griffin Christian girls team led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter before the bottom fell out.
“We had a lot of turnovers and gave them a lot of easy baskets — that was pretty much the game right there,” Lady Crusaders head coach David Hammond said of a second quarter where his team was outscored 22-7 to trail 31-19 at the half.
The Heritage School upped its lead in the third quarter to carry a 43-26 lead into the fourth quarter.
Brittany Foster led GCHS with 17 points and 8 rebounds, while Leyah Brown had 5 points and Katy Hammond added 5 assists and 4 steals.
Post a Comment