BOYS’ BASKETBALL
KERR-VANCE 86, FAITH CHRISTIAN 71
The Spartans (10-6, 4-3) hosted 1A Carolina Independent Conference foe Faith Christian (9-8, 3-3) at Crawford Gymtorium Tuesday evening and secured the crucial victory with an impressive run in the final minutes of regulation.
Kerr-Vance shot extremely well to begin the contest, jumping out to an early 29-19 lead after the first quarter of action. Spartans’ guard Michael Bowers had an extraordinary night on the offensive end, picking up 19 points in the first quarter alone to give his squad a double-digit advantage. Bowers couldn’t quite maintain that ridiculous scoring pace throughout the entire game, but still netted a season-high 44 points to the delight of the Spartans’ home crowd.
Wil Short and Colby Wilkerson added to the early dominance by the Spartans, both playing intense defense and creating points off turnovers.
The Spartans would increase their lead to as many as 18 points in the second quarter, but the visitors from Faith Christian crawled and scrapped their way back into the game, eventually cutting Kerr-Vance’s advantage down to 50-38 by the half.
The only thing that slowed down the Spartans in the first half were the officials, who whistled 15 first-half fouls on Kerr-Vance as they tried to defend a much bigger Faith Christian squad.
Spartans’ head coach Taron Downey made what he would later call a tactical error when he asked his team to slow down the pace at the start of the second half. The change in tempo allowed the Patriots to cut into the Spartans’ lead very quickly and nearly cost Kerr-Vance an important conference win.
“I almost gave that game away,” Downey said. ‘I had us play too conservatively with the lead. That took our aggressiveness away, and that was my fault.”
Faith Christian continued to fight and finally trimmed their deficit down to a single point as the Spartans led 62-61 after three quarters of action. The Patriots actually completed the comeback and briefly regained the lead after scoring the first basket of the fourth quarter, but the Spartans’ offense began to push the pace again and played more aggressively down the stretch to close out Faith Christian.
“Our team showed a lot of intestinal fortitude when we relinquished the lead,” Downey said. “We got our composure back and Faith Christian didn’t score very much after that.”
After taking the 63-62 lead, the Patriots only managed eight more points, while the Spartans went on to rack up 24 points when it mattered the most.
“Colby Wilkerson made a big shot late,” Downey said, praising his guard for a three-pointer that would extend a two point lead to five in the fourth quarter.
The Spartans continued to play stifling defense and made numerous shots from the free throw line as Faith Christian piled up fouls trying to slow down the Kerr-Vance attack. The Spartans converted 17 of their 24 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter, while only scoring seven points from the field during the decisive run.
Downey had nothing but praise for his team’s defensive effort, especially against the Patriots’ biggest player Chase Hearn, who scored 24 points on the night. Despite his productive evening, the Spartans kept Hearn scoreless throughout the fourth quarter, with some of the defensive effort coming from players who are normally more comfortable on the perimeter.
“Wil Short played amazing defense on the big kid [Hearn] down the stretch, and both Beau [Nutter] and Banks [Conde] played as well as I could ask given the size differential that we gave up to Faith. They were both able to slow their bigs down,” Downey said.
Downey also praised the play of Jabe Montgomery, who connected on three consecutive shots from beyond the three-point arc in the second quarter to help extend the Spartans’ lead.
“And the play of Mike [Bowers] goes without saying,” Downey said. “Michael was working his magic all night long. He’s a very slippery type of player.”
Bowers also added seven rebounds, four steals and an assist on the night, while Short filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Wilkerson (11 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Montgomery (9 pts), Conde (4 pts, 2 reb), Austin Mattingly (2 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl) and Nutter (3 reb) also had very productive nights for Kerr-Vance.
The Spartans (10-6, 4-3) will return to action when they host the South Wake Sabres in a non-conference matchup tonight and then travel to face Halifax Academy (10-2, 2-1) in conference action Friday evening.
KERR-VANCE 86, FAITH CHRISTIAN 71
The Spartans (10-6, 4-3) hosted 1A Carolina Independent Conference foe Faith Christian (9-8, 3-3) at Crawford Gymtorium Tuesday evening and secured the crucial victory with an impressive run in the final minutes of regulation.
Kerr-Vance shot extremely well to begin the contest, jumping out to an early 29-19 lead after the first quarter of action. Spartans’ guard Michael Bowers had an extraordinary night on the offensive end, picking up 19 points in the first quarter alone to give his squad a double-digit advantage. Bowers couldn’t quite maintain that ridiculous scoring pace throughout the entire game, but still netted a season-high 44 points to the delight of the Spartans’ home crowd.
Wil Short and Colby Wilkerson added to the early dominance by the Spartans, both playing intense defense and creating points off turnovers.
The Spartans would increase their lead to as many as 18 points in the second quarter, but the visitors from Faith Christian crawled and scrapped their way back into the game, eventually cutting Kerr-Vance’s advantage down to 50-38 by the half.
The only thing that slowed down the Spartans in the first half were the officials, who whistled 15 first-half fouls on Kerr-Vance as they tried to defend a much bigger Faith Christian squad.
Spartans’ head coach Taron Downey made what he would later call a tactical error when he asked his team to slow down the pace at the start of the second half. The change in tempo allowed the Patriots to cut into the Spartans’ lead very quickly and nearly cost Kerr-Vance an important conference win.
“I almost gave that game away,” Downey said. ‘I had us play too conservatively with the lead. That took our aggressiveness away, and that was my fault.”
Faith Christian continued to fight and finally trimmed their deficit down to a single point as the Spartans led 62-61 after three quarters of action. The Patriots actually completed the comeback and briefly regained the lead after scoring the first basket of the fourth quarter, but the Spartans’ offense began to push the pace again and played more aggressively down the stretch to close out Faith Christian.
“Our team showed a lot of intestinal fortitude when we relinquished the lead,” Downey said. “We got our composure back and Faith Christian didn’t score very much after that.”
After taking the 63-62 lead, the Patriots only managed eight more points, while the Spartans went on to rack up 24 points when it mattered the most.
“Colby Wilkerson made a big shot late,” Downey said, praising his guard for a three-pointer that would extend a two point lead to five in the fourth quarter.
The Spartans continued to play stifling defense and made numerous shots from the free throw line as Faith Christian piled up fouls trying to slow down the Kerr-Vance attack. The Spartans converted 17 of their 24 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter, while only scoring seven points from the field during the decisive run.
Downey had nothing but praise for his team’s defensive effort, especially against the Patriots’ biggest player Chase Hearn, who scored 24 points on the night. Despite his productive evening, the Spartans kept Hearn scoreless throughout the fourth quarter, with some of the defensive effort coming from players who are normally more comfortable on the perimeter.
“Wil Short played amazing defense on the big kid [Hearn] down the stretch, and both Beau [Nutter] and Banks [Conde] played as well as I could ask given the size differential that we gave up to Faith. They were both able to slow their bigs down,” Downey said.
Downey also praised the play of Jabe Montgomery, who connected on three consecutive shots from beyond the three-point arc in the second quarter to help extend the Spartans’ lead.
“And the play of Mike [Bowers] goes without saying,” Downey said. “Michael was working his magic all night long. He’s a very slippery type of player.”
Bowers also added seven rebounds, four steals and an assist on the night, while Short filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Wilkerson (11 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Montgomery (9 pts), Conde (4 pts, 2 reb), Austin Mattingly (2 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl) and Nutter (3 reb) also had very productive nights for Kerr-Vance.
The Spartans (10-6, 4-3) will return to action when they host the South Wake Sabres in a non-conference matchup tonight and then travel to face Halifax Academy (10-2, 2-1) in conference action Friday evening.
