Knights hold off Crossroads to reach finals of Christmas tourney
Despite struggling at times against Crossroads Christian, Greenfield is back in the championship game of its boys basketball Christmas tournament with a 83-76 victory in Friday’s semifinals.
The Knights, now 10-2, will face Fayetteville Academy in the finals for the third straight year. The Eagles (9-2) defeated Cape Fear Academy 58-49 in the first semifinal Friday. Greenfield will be going for its second straight Greenfield Christmas Tournament title.
The Knights grabbed a 26-18 lead after one quarter but Crossroads Christian (6-6) didn’t go away. The Colts pulled within 59-55 going into the fourth quarter and trimmed the lead to a basket in the fourth before the Knights managed to hold them at bay.
“It was a game,” Greenfield head coach Rob Salter said. “They played great. I thought they played harder than we did. Defensively, I thought we played poorly. We need to play with more energy (Saturday) night.”
Junior Jacari Outlaw netted a season-high 20 points to go with six rebounds for the Knights, who had five scorers in double figures. Creighton Lebo had 17 points and five rebounds while Jordan Lynch totaled 16 points and Collin Guilford added 12 points. Junior Dji Bailey was solid all around with 11 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Taylor Bell tossed in a game-high 25 points for Crossroads Christian and Thomas Towns bucketed 20 points. The Colts will face Cape Fear Academy in Saturday’s third-place game.
Crossroads christian (76)
Taylor Bell 25, Page 4, Carlson 5, Fulk 3, Overby 13, Lloyd 8, Thomas Towns 20.
GREENFIELD (83)
Outlaw 20, Pittman 4, Lebo 17, Bailey 11, Guilford 12, Lynch 16, Foster 3, Baker.
Score by quarters:
Crossroads 18 22 15 21 — 76
Greenfield 26 21 12 24 — 83
Despite struggling at times against Crossroads Christian, Greenfield is back in the championship game of its boys basketball Christmas tournament with a 83-76 victory in Friday’s semifinals.
The Knights, now 10-2, will face Fayetteville Academy in the finals for the third straight year. The Eagles (9-2) defeated Cape Fear Academy 58-49 in the first semifinal Friday. Greenfield will be going for its second straight Greenfield Christmas Tournament title.
The Knights grabbed a 26-18 lead after one quarter but Crossroads Christian (6-6) didn’t go away. The Colts pulled within 59-55 going into the fourth quarter and trimmed the lead to a basket in the fourth before the Knights managed to hold them at bay.
“It was a game,” Greenfield head coach Rob Salter said. “They played great. I thought they played harder than we did. Defensively, I thought we played poorly. We need to play with more energy (Saturday) night.”
Junior Jacari Outlaw netted a season-high 20 points to go with six rebounds for the Knights, who had five scorers in double figures. Creighton Lebo had 17 points and five rebounds while Jordan Lynch totaled 16 points and Collin Guilford added 12 points. Junior Dji Bailey was solid all around with 11 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Taylor Bell tossed in a game-high 25 points for Crossroads Christian and Thomas Towns bucketed 20 points. The Colts will face Cape Fear Academy in Saturday’s third-place game.
Crossroads christian (76)
Taylor Bell 25, Page 4, Carlson 5, Fulk 3, Overby 13, Lloyd 8, Thomas Towns 20.
GREENFIELD (83)
Outlaw 20, Pittman 4, Lebo 17, Bailey 11, Guilford 12, Lynch 16, Foster 3, Baker.
Score by quarters:
Crossroads 18 22 15 21 — 76
Greenfield 26 21 12 24 — 83
