Brock Rose, Ardrey Kell top Covenant Day in boys basketball Friday BY CAMERON WILLIAMS AND LANGSTON WERTZ JR.
The Ardrey Kell Knights defeated the Covenant Day Lions 59-52 Friday behind a terrific shooting performance by junior guard Brock Rose. The Knights led wire-to-wire despite a big comeback effort by Covenant Day.
“Coming into the game, we couldn’t believe their (Covenant Day) size,” Knights coach Mike Craft said. “They really have some great size and some very good athletes. So, we knew it was going to be a tough game.”
After a struggle to establish much of a paint game, Ardrey Kell turned to the perimeter shot to give them the advantage. Rose was the catalyst to the team’s shooting performance and once he got going, it appeared to be contagious as several players started knocking down three’s and mid-range jumpers. Rose finished with 26 points, 18 of which came in the first half. When he got the ball, coach Craft had confidence that he would make the right play.
“We’ve really been talking about focusing and being able to play for 32 minutes, and that first half was really a glimpse of what he (Rose) could do,” Craft said. “He was key for us tonight.”
With Covenant Day having two talented big men on the floor in Ifeanyi Ufochukwu and Michael Marcus Jr. at 6-10 and 6-8 respectively, Craft knew his team had to rebound well, and he felt as if his team did that at times.
“I thought we battled them,” Craft said. “I thought we did a good job boxing out and getting 50-50 balls. Even though they were taller, we got some of those.” Rose agreed with his coach. “We had to come out and defend,”
Rose said. “We didn’t defend (Thursday) against (Charlotte) Latin, so we came back with a lot more energy.” ‘Like NASCAR on the r
THREE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
Brock Rose, Ardrey Kell: Rose’s performance was impressive, to say the least. He would come off ball screens and let it fly, and the ball went in a high percentage of the time. He hit five three-pointers and was able to put the ball on the floor and take it to the basket as well.
Evan Smith, Ardrey Kell: Totaling 16 points, the Knights floor general did a little bit of everything. He drove the lane and had some great finds to his teammates as well as knocking down a few three-point baskets.
DJ Boyce, Covenant Day: The leading scorer for the Lions with 17, Boyce had a hot streak late in the third quarter going on a 7-0 run by himself to help close the gap for Covenant Day. He forced three turnovers as well.
WORTH MENTIONING ▪ Marcus Jr. and Ufochuckwu combined 16 rebounds, 11 of which were offensive. This led to several second-chance points for the Lions. ▪
Rose’s contributions for the Knights didn’t just come on the offensive end of the court. He had six defensive rebounds and a block in the game as well. His tight defense helped force some poor decisions as well leading to turnovers by Covenant Day.
WHAT’S NEXT Ardrey Kell has a week off before starting conference play against Myers Park on Dec. 17. Covenant Day has a 10-day break as their next game won’t come until Dec. 20 against New Faith Christian Academy.
RECORDS Ardrey Kell is 7-2. Covenant Day is 8-3
The Ardrey Kell Knights defeated the Covenant Day Lions 59-52 Friday behind a terrific shooting performance by junior guard Brock Rose. The Knights led wire-to-wire despite a big comeback effort by Covenant Day.
“Coming into the game, we couldn’t believe their (Covenant Day) size,” Knights coach Mike Craft said. “They really have some great size and some very good athletes. So, we knew it was going to be a tough game.”
After a struggle to establish much of a paint game, Ardrey Kell turned to the perimeter shot to give them the advantage. Rose was the catalyst to the team’s shooting performance and once he got going, it appeared to be contagious as several players started knocking down three’s and mid-range jumpers. Rose finished with 26 points, 18 of which came in the first half. When he got the ball, coach Craft had confidence that he would make the right play.
“We’ve really been talking about focusing and being able to play for 32 minutes, and that first half was really a glimpse of what he (Rose) could do,” Craft said. “He was key for us tonight.”
With Covenant Day having two talented big men on the floor in Ifeanyi Ufochukwu and Michael Marcus Jr. at 6-10 and 6-8 respectively, Craft knew his team had to rebound well, and he felt as if his team did that at times.
“I thought we battled them,” Craft said. “I thought we did a good job boxing out and getting 50-50 balls. Even though they were taller, we got some of those.” Rose agreed with his coach. “We had to come out and defend,”
Rose said. “We didn’t defend (Thursday) against (Charlotte) Latin, so we came back with a lot more energy.” ‘Like NASCAR on the r
THREE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
Brock Rose, Ardrey Kell: Rose’s performance was impressive, to say the least. He would come off ball screens and let it fly, and the ball went in a high percentage of the time. He hit five three-pointers and was able to put the ball on the floor and take it to the basket as well.
Evan Smith, Ardrey Kell: Totaling 16 points, the Knights floor general did a little bit of everything. He drove the lane and had some great finds to his teammates as well as knocking down a few three-point baskets.
DJ Boyce, Covenant Day: The leading scorer for the Lions with 17, Boyce had a hot streak late in the third quarter going on a 7-0 run by himself to help close the gap for Covenant Day. He forced three turnovers as well.
WORTH MENTIONING ▪ Marcus Jr. and Ufochuckwu combined 16 rebounds, 11 of which were offensive. This led to several second-chance points for the Lions. ▪
Rose’s contributions for the Knights didn’t just come on the offensive end of the court. He had six defensive rebounds and a block in the game as well. His tight defense helped force some poor decisions as well leading to turnovers by Covenant Day.
WHAT’S NEXT Ardrey Kell has a week off before starting conference play against Myers Park on Dec. 17. Covenant Day has a 10-day break as their next game won’t come until Dec. 20 against New Faith Christian Academy.
RECORDS Ardrey Kell is 7-2. Covenant Day is 8-3
