Greenfield's Crandell, Sanders land dual conference honors
By Tom Ham Senior Staff Writer
Seniors Will Crandell and A.J. Sanders were each proclaimed North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A Coastal Plain Independents Conference all-conference and all-tournament in leading the Greenfield School varsity boys basketball team to a share of the regular-season title and to tournament supremacy.
Five Knights were honored during the awards presentation following Greenfield's 65-63 overtime conquest of Freedom Christian of Fayetteville in the varsity boys championship game Saturday night in the Greenfield School gym.
The 6-foot-4 Crandell was saluted as the tournament's most valuable player. Crandell scored the winning basket with two seconds left in the four-minute extra session and finished with 19 points and six rebounds. In Friday night's semifinals triumph against archrival Wayne Country Day, Crandell drilled in 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
"It's an amazing feeling!" Crandell exclaimed of behing voted the MVP. "Coming into the tourney, I knew I wanted to work hard and for us to win. I didn't think I would be the MVP, but I wanted to come out, make my team happy and myself happy. I am most happy about getting the win."
Knights joining Crandell on the all-tournament team were Sanders and sophomore Tyler Maye. Sanders responded with 18 points and 12 rebounds in the final, while Maye contributed 14 points.
Runner-up Freedom Christian landed Marko Tomic, a 6-8 senior from Serbia; Gunnar Hardarson, a senior guard from Iceland; and Thank God Avar, a 6-7 junior from Nigeria.
Greenfield was represented on the all-conference unit by the 6-4 Sanders, Crandell, 6-3 senior Dwanya Williams-Sutton and freshman guard Coby White.
Freedom, the 2-A member of the 1-A/2-A split conference and the regular-season co-champion with Greenfield, placed Avar, Tomic, Hardison and junior guard Mike Melvin.
Completing the elite unit were senior Victor Miller, senior Joel Davis and junior Jamal Forde from Wayne Country Day and senior Kowaan Barnes and junior Jerry Davis of Pope John Paul II of Greenville.
Greenfield senior Isaiah White was accorded honorable mention.
Tomic was tabbed the CPC Player of the Year, while Freedom's Dan Pruessner was voted the coach of the year.
By Tom Ham Senior Staff Writer
Seniors Will Crandell and A.J. Sanders were each proclaimed North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A Coastal Plain Independents Conference all-conference and all-tournament in leading the Greenfield School varsity boys basketball team to a share of the regular-season title and to tournament supremacy.
Five Knights were honored during the awards presentation following Greenfield's 65-63 overtime conquest of Freedom Christian of Fayetteville in the varsity boys championship game Saturday night in the Greenfield School gym.
The 6-foot-4 Crandell was saluted as the tournament's most valuable player. Crandell scored the winning basket with two seconds left in the four-minute extra session and finished with 19 points and six rebounds. In Friday night's semifinals triumph against archrival Wayne Country Day, Crandell drilled in 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
"It's an amazing feeling!" Crandell exclaimed of behing voted the MVP. "Coming into the tourney, I knew I wanted to work hard and for us to win. I didn't think I would be the MVP, but I wanted to come out, make my team happy and myself happy. I am most happy about getting the win."
Knights joining Crandell on the all-tournament team were Sanders and sophomore Tyler Maye. Sanders responded with 18 points and 12 rebounds in the final, while Maye contributed 14 points.
Runner-up Freedom Christian landed Marko Tomic, a 6-8 senior from Serbia; Gunnar Hardarson, a senior guard from Iceland; and Thank God Avar, a 6-7 junior from Nigeria.
Greenfield was represented on the all-conference unit by the 6-4 Sanders, Crandell, 6-3 senior Dwanya Williams-Sutton and freshman guard Coby White.
Freedom, the 2-A member of the 1-A/2-A split conference and the regular-season co-champion with Greenfield, placed Avar, Tomic, Hardison and junior guard Mike Melvin.
Completing the elite unit were senior Victor Miller, senior Joel Davis and junior Jamal Forde from Wayne Country Day and senior Kowaan Barnes and junior Jerry Davis of Pope John Paul II of Greenville.
Greenfield senior Isaiah White was accorded honorable mention.
Tomic was tabbed the CPC Player of the Year, while Freedom's Dan Pruessner was voted the coach of the year.
