Knights hang on for first-round win
By Michael Prunka
PANTEGO — Despite being outscored in each quarter after the first, Terra Ceia hung on to beat Wayne Christian, 80-79, in the first round of the NCISAA state playoffs on Tuesday. The Knights, led by Tyler Hendrix’s double-double (22 points, 12 rebounds), got just eno The visiting Eagles got three baskets in a row to tie the game at 77 apiece with 1:39 to play. The Knights, perhaps feeling the pressure, struggled with their opportunities at the free-throw line down the stretch.ugh to propel it into a second-round matchup with the only team that’s beaten them — Wayne Country Day.
They got just enough to escape with the win, though. Messiah Barnes’ foul shot broke the tie with 1:17 left, and Quentin Van Essendelft got a freebie a minute later to extend Terra Ceia’s lead to 80-77.
“I just knew I had to knock one down to seal the game,” Van Essendelft said. “I was pretty nervous about it. I’m glad it went in.”
Barnes added, “I was thinking make the free throw to win the game.”
Wayne Christian got the ball with enough time to get the ball down the court and potentially tie the game. The Knights’ objective was to keep the Eagles from getting an open look from behind the arc. An errant pass left them with no other choice than to put up a last-second mid-range shot from the baseline, which fell, but the two points weren’t enough to tie things up.
“At times, we lost our composure. We need patience and composure,” coach Roger Klaassen said. “This was good for us. We needed this. It was a real test. It’s been a while since we’ve had that, and we still gutted it out. That’s big, but we need better foul shooting and that composure and patience.”
The final stretch was as close as the game was since its onset. Wayne Christian had an early 4-3 lead before Terra Ceia ripped off a 9-0 spurt. Shaiquan Moore got things started by converting an and-1. Terra Ceia got in its groove by forcing steals and turning them into easy buckets for the likes of Barnes and Austin Roscoe.
With a 16-13 lead, Hendrix scored seven straight points on his own. He followed a free throw with back-to-back 3-pointers, helping to push Terra Ceia’s lead to 25-13.
Another triple from Hendrix extended the Knights’ advantage to as much as 14 points in the second quarter. Wayne Christian used a bit of its own heat from long range to start chipping away, though.
Terra Ceia took a 50-40 lead into halftime, but looked a bit sluggish in the third. Barnes got a layup in transition to give his side a 62-50 lead, prompting the Eagles to call a timeout with 1:47 left in the period. They went on to finish the third on a 9-2 run to make it a two-possession, 64-59 game going into the fourth.
A fast-break layup completed the Eagles’ comeback, tying the game at 64 apiece with 6:55 left. Roscoe didn’t let it last long, though. He knocked down a huge 3-pointer from the wing on the next possession.
“That was huge,” Klaassen said. “We missed some gimmies, so to have that shot go through and put us up by three, that was big.”
Wayne Christian kept it close. Hendrix kept counterpunching for Terra Ceia, and a pair of free throws from Van Essendelft gave the Knights a 77-71 lead with just under three minutes left.
The Knights provided their fans with some hope by scoring the first four points of the quarter to cut the Colts’ lead down to five points, but that’s the closest the score would get for the remainder of the contest. Kenan and Zaire Edwards (20 pts) combined for seven-straight points to extend the Colts’ advantage to double-digits, before Tyler O’Steen (9 pts) came off the bench and put the nail in the Knights’ coffin.
O’Steen was completely dialed in from long distance, draining three jumpers from beyond the arc over the final four minutes as the Colts finished the first half on a dominant 17-6 run. It was obvious everything was going right for the Colts, especially when Makiyah Jones (10 pts) passed the ball to a wide open Pearsall, who converted a layup right as the buzzer sounded to give his squad a commanding 43-22 advantage heading into the locker room at the half.
“That was very huge because Tyler [O’Steen] has been in a little bit of a slump lately,” Whitaker said. “We’ve been texting back and forth, and I told him that I don’t care about his slump and that he has the green light to shoot every time he gets the ball. The only way for a shooter to come out of a slump is to keep shooting.”
The Colts maintained their fast-paced attack after the break, while also completely shutting down the Knights’ offense. Edwards, Steffenson and Pearsall did a terrific job of protecting the rim for Crossroads, making Hickory Christian work hard for every single point.
The approach worked like a charm as the Colts outscored the Knights 23-6 during the third quarter, taking complete control of the game as they headed into the final quarter with an extremely comfortable 66-28 advantage.
Dwayne Macon (7 pts), Connor Bryant (2 pts) and Tyler Logan (2 pts) also contributed for Crossroads. Senior Lance Cook led the Knights with 15 points, while sophomore Andy Cook (11 pts) also reached double figures for Hickory Christian.
The tenth-seeded Colts (21-5) will travel to Erwin to face seventh-seeded Cape Fear Christian Academy (18-14) on Thursday in the second round of the 1A NCISAA State Playoffs with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line.
By Michael Prunka
PANTEGO — Despite being outscored in each quarter after the first, Terra Ceia hung on to beat Wayne Christian, 80-79, in the first round of the NCISAA state playoffs on Tuesday. The Knights, led by Tyler Hendrix’s double-double (22 points, 12 rebounds), got just eno The visiting Eagles got three baskets in a row to tie the game at 77 apiece with 1:39 to play. The Knights, perhaps feeling the pressure, struggled with their opportunities at the free-throw line down the stretch.ugh to propel it into a second-round matchup with the only team that’s beaten them — Wayne Country Day.
They got just enough to escape with the win, though. Messiah Barnes’ foul shot broke the tie with 1:17 left, and Quentin Van Essendelft got a freebie a minute later to extend Terra Ceia’s lead to 80-77.
“I just knew I had to knock one down to seal the game,” Van Essendelft said. “I was pretty nervous about it. I’m glad it went in.”
Barnes added, “I was thinking make the free throw to win the game.”
Wayne Christian got the ball with enough time to get the ball down the court and potentially tie the game. The Knights’ objective was to keep the Eagles from getting an open look from behind the arc. An errant pass left them with no other choice than to put up a last-second mid-range shot from the baseline, which fell, but the two points weren’t enough to tie things up.
“At times, we lost our composure. We need patience and composure,” coach Roger Klaassen said. “This was good for us. We needed this. It was a real test. It’s been a while since we’ve had that, and we still gutted it out. That’s big, but we need better foul shooting and that composure and patience.”
The final stretch was as close as the game was since its onset. Wayne Christian had an early 4-3 lead before Terra Ceia ripped off a 9-0 spurt. Shaiquan Moore got things started by converting an and-1. Terra Ceia got in its groove by forcing steals and turning them into easy buckets for the likes of Barnes and Austin Roscoe.
With a 16-13 lead, Hendrix scored seven straight points on his own. He followed a free throw with back-to-back 3-pointers, helping to push Terra Ceia’s lead to 25-13.
Another triple from Hendrix extended the Knights’ advantage to as much as 14 points in the second quarter. Wayne Christian used a bit of its own heat from long range to start chipping away, though.
Terra Ceia took a 50-40 lead into halftime, but looked a bit sluggish in the third. Barnes got a layup in transition to give his side a 62-50 lead, prompting the Eagles to call a timeout with 1:47 left in the period. They went on to finish the third on a 9-2 run to make it a two-possession, 64-59 game going into the fourth.
A fast-break layup completed the Eagles’ comeback, tying the game at 64 apiece with 6:55 left. Roscoe didn’t let it last long, though. He knocked down a huge 3-pointer from the wing on the next possession.
“That was huge,” Klaassen said. “We missed some gimmies, so to have that shot go through and put us up by three, that was big.”
Wayne Christian kept it close. Hendrix kept counterpunching for Terra Ceia, and a pair of free throws from Van Essendelft gave the Knights a 77-71 lead with just under three minutes left.
The Knights provided their fans with some hope by scoring the first four points of the quarter to cut the Colts’ lead down to five points, but that’s the closest the score would get for the remainder of the contest. Kenan and Zaire Edwards (20 pts) combined for seven-straight points to extend the Colts’ advantage to double-digits, before Tyler O’Steen (9 pts) came off the bench and put the nail in the Knights’ coffin.
O’Steen was completely dialed in from long distance, draining three jumpers from beyond the arc over the final four minutes as the Colts finished the first half on a dominant 17-6 run. It was obvious everything was going right for the Colts, especially when Makiyah Jones (10 pts) passed the ball to a wide open Pearsall, who converted a layup right as the buzzer sounded to give his squad a commanding 43-22 advantage heading into the locker room at the half.
“That was very huge because Tyler [O’Steen] has been in a little bit of a slump lately,” Whitaker said. “We’ve been texting back and forth, and I told him that I don’t care about his slump and that he has the green light to shoot every time he gets the ball. The only way for a shooter to come out of a slump is to keep shooting.”
The Colts maintained their fast-paced attack after the break, while also completely shutting down the Knights’ offense. Edwards, Steffenson and Pearsall did a terrific job of protecting the rim for Crossroads, making Hickory Christian work hard for every single point.
The approach worked like a charm as the Colts outscored the Knights 23-6 during the third quarter, taking complete control of the game as they headed into the final quarter with an extremely comfortable 66-28 advantage.
Dwayne Macon (7 pts), Connor Bryant (2 pts) and Tyler Logan (2 pts) also contributed for Crossroads. Senior Lance Cook led the Knights with 15 points, while sophomore Andy Cook (11 pts) also reached double figures for Hickory Christian.
The tenth-seeded Colts (21-5) will travel to Erwin to face seventh-seeded Cape Fear Christian Academy (18-14) on Thursday in the second round of the 1A NCISAA State Playoffs with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line.
