Knights battle into tournament title game
By Tom Ham
The player handling the basketball attempted to penetrate inside at his own risk. Bodies frequently spilled to the floor with a thud.
The officiating of the three-member crew too often drew the wrath of spectators and left a lot of them howling. The physicality of the fouls seldom left any doubt. Shots – inside and outside – and the scramble for rebounds rarely went uncontested.
“A little battle, wasn’t it?” remarked Greenfield head coach Rob Salter with a grin. “Intense game.”
Salter mentioned no animosity between his Knights and Thursday night’s opponent, Grace Christian of Raleigh, but acknowledged: “We play them a lot.”
A varsity boys basketball war was waged inside the Greenfield School gymnasium in the final winners’ bracket semifinal of the 15th Greenfield Christmas Tournament. The Knights indicated they are becoming more and more comfortable with the physical style.
Greenfield battled into Friday night’s championship game with a 70-51 conquest of Grace Christian of Raleigh, a member of the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 3-A ranks.
Last year’s runner-up, Greenfield, a 2-A member of the NCISAA’s 2-A/3-A Coastal Plain Independents Conference, opposes Trinity Academy in bidding for its first championship of the event since 2019. Trinity thumped Fayetteville Academy, 68-48, in Thursday night’s other semifinal.
“It was a little rough,” Greenfield senior Jack Adair said of Thursday night’s encounter. “We like the challenge. We want to be big and physical.”
Added Salter of the Knights’ 13th win against three losses: “It was a game that neither team could get into a rhythm because it was such a physical game. The guys showed composure and maturity when it could have gotten out of hand. In earlier games, we’ve had a couple of players struggle in that situation, but tonight, they were fantastic.”
Demonstrating a definite composure edge, the Knights took command midway the third quarter, dealing the Eagles their ninth loss against six wins.
“Our pressure wears teams down and I think that affected them in the second half,” Salter explained. “Grace hurt us with their rebounding in the first half, but we were really good on the glass in the second half, and were able to get out in transition.”
With the Greenfield gym court no place for the faint of heart, war was imminent from the outset as the Eagles’ Myles Pettis, a senior, scored inside just before the first-quarter buzzer to trim Greenfield’s lead to 16-14.
But, in the second quarter, senior Micah Sherrod’s dunk boosted the Knights to a 24-16 advantage. The margin first reached 11 points (27-16) on junior Matt Kirby’s 3-pointer. The Knights twice more pushed the lead to 11 points in the quarter at 29-18 and 32-21 at halftime.
Kirby’s layup and 6-foot-5 junior Hampton Evans’ two free throws soared Greenfield to a 36-22 edge. Again, the lead was 14 points (42-28) on two free throws from Kirby with 1:28 left in the third quarter. Greenfield constructed its biggest lead of 70-49.
“We were a little slow coming out,” Adair reviewed, “but the offense got going in the second half. We took the challenge to work hard and outwork the other team. We try to get rebounds. There’s a dog in us, and we fight for every rebound. Overall, it was a good effort.”
Greenfield lost the rebounding battle, 33-26. The Knights connected on 2-of-12 attempts from 3-point range and shot 21 of 51 from the floor for 41% accuracy. Grace knocked down 5-of-16 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc and wound up 19-of-50 from the field (38 percent). Greenfield’s defense forced 18 turnovers, including 10 steals, and committed just 10 turnovers.
“Defensively, we were really good,” Salter evaluated. “We guarded, rotated and made them take tough shots. The bench gave us some spark in the first quarter. I liked our composure. Our guys are told to pop up and go to the next play.”
Greenfield’s decided advantage at the foul line frustrated the Eagles of head coach DeShannon Morris. Sensational in the first half, the Knights wound up converting 26 of 38 foul tosses as compared to 8 of 10 for Grace, which had three players to foul out. Greenfield players dealt with foul woes, but none exited via the foul route.
Greenfield point guard Kobe Edwards goes airborne during a home win over Grace Christian of Raleigh in the semifinals of the Greenfield Christmas Tournament. Sheldon Vick | Special to the Times
The Eagles were led by 6-3 senior Julien King with 21 points. Junior Quasim Oden tossed in 14 and junior Steven McLeod claimed a game-high 12 rebounds.
Hampton Evans surfaced with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds for the Knights. Kirby scored 12 points. Cole Evans handed out four assists and junior Bryson Wall notched three steals. Adair contributed 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
“I come off the bench and I take pride in that,” Adair, in his first year with the Knights, commented of his role.”I try to control the things I can.”
However, Adair did not take pride in his 0-for-5 showing from the foul line.
“Totally unacceptable,” Adair responded with a shake of his head. “I’ve got to work on that. I’ll be in the gym (Friday), shooting free throws.”
Salter mentioned Adair and Wall as the epitome of blue-collar players. Hampton Evans’ performance was lauded.
“(Adair and Wall) don’t have to score,” Salter declared. “They still impact the game. Jack plays with heart and makes winning plays. He was great tonight on the glass and talking on defense.
“You saw all of Hampton tonight – which was great. He’s understanding a lot of things you can’t control and you’ve got to keep playing.”
Both Salter and Adair are confident the Knights are poised for Friday night’s championship test against Trinity, a team that defeated the Knights last season.
“We want to be one machine out there,” Salter said. “Tonight, we were pretty good.”
GRACE CHRISTIAN (51)
Oden 14, Swecker, Pettis 2, McLeod 6, King 21, G. Lyon 3, Kyristi 3, D.Lyon, Tate, Laraway, Carless 2, Attaberry.
GREENFIELD (70)
K. Edwards 6, N. Edwards 3, Kirby 12, Atkinson 2, H. Evans 23, Sherrod 9, Adair 11, C. Evans 4, Wall, Baptiste.
Score by quarters:
Grace Christian 14 7 14 16 – 51
Greenfield 16 16 12 26 – 70
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Fayetteville Academy 59, Grace Christian (Sanford) 50
Trinity Academy 72, Northwood Temple 63
Grace Christian (Raleigh) 54, Crossroads Christian 48
Greenfield 83, New Life Christian 36
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Losers’ Bracket
Northwood Temple 77, Grace Christian (Sanford) 56
Crossroads Christian 89, New Life Christian 69
Winners’ Bracket
Trinity Academy 68, Fayetteville Academy 48
Greenfield 70, Grace Christian (Raleigh) 51
FRIDAY’S GAMES
7th-place game
3 p.m. – Grace Christian (Sanford) vs. New Life Christian
5th-place game
4:30 – Crossroads Christian vs. Northwood Temple
3rd-place game
6 p.m. – Fayetteville Academy vs. Grace Chrisitan (Raleigh)
Championship game
7:30 – Trinity Academy vs. Greenfield
By Tom Ham
The player handling the basketball attempted to penetrate inside at his own risk. Bodies frequently spilled to the floor with a thud.
The officiating of the three-member crew too often drew the wrath of spectators and left a lot of them howling. The physicality of the fouls seldom left any doubt. Shots – inside and outside – and the scramble for rebounds rarely went uncontested.
“A little battle, wasn’t it?” remarked Greenfield head coach Rob Salter with a grin. “Intense game.”
Salter mentioned no animosity between his Knights and Thursday night’s opponent, Grace Christian of Raleigh, but acknowledged: “We play them a lot.”
A varsity boys basketball war was waged inside the Greenfield School gymnasium in the final winners’ bracket semifinal of the 15th Greenfield Christmas Tournament. The Knights indicated they are becoming more and more comfortable with the physical style.
Greenfield battled into Friday night’s championship game with a 70-51 conquest of Grace Christian of Raleigh, a member of the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 3-A ranks.
Last year’s runner-up, Greenfield, a 2-A member of the NCISAA’s 2-A/3-A Coastal Plain Independents Conference, opposes Trinity Academy in bidding for its first championship of the event since 2019. Trinity thumped Fayetteville Academy, 68-48, in Thursday night’s other semifinal.
“It was a little rough,” Greenfield senior Jack Adair said of Thursday night’s encounter. “We like the challenge. We want to be big and physical.”
Added Salter of the Knights’ 13th win against three losses: “It was a game that neither team could get into a rhythm because it was such a physical game. The guys showed composure and maturity when it could have gotten out of hand. In earlier games, we’ve had a couple of players struggle in that situation, but tonight, they were fantastic.”
Demonstrating a definite composure edge, the Knights took command midway the third quarter, dealing the Eagles their ninth loss against six wins.
“Our pressure wears teams down and I think that affected them in the second half,” Salter explained. “Grace hurt us with their rebounding in the first half, but we were really good on the glass in the second half, and were able to get out in transition.”
With the Greenfield gym court no place for the faint of heart, war was imminent from the outset as the Eagles’ Myles Pettis, a senior, scored inside just before the first-quarter buzzer to trim Greenfield’s lead to 16-14.
But, in the second quarter, senior Micah Sherrod’s dunk boosted the Knights to a 24-16 advantage. The margin first reached 11 points (27-16) on junior Matt Kirby’s 3-pointer. The Knights twice more pushed the lead to 11 points in the quarter at 29-18 and 32-21 at halftime.
Kirby’s layup and 6-foot-5 junior Hampton Evans’ two free throws soared Greenfield to a 36-22 edge. Again, the lead was 14 points (42-28) on two free throws from Kirby with 1:28 left in the third quarter. Greenfield constructed its biggest lead of 70-49.
“We were a little slow coming out,” Adair reviewed, “but the offense got going in the second half. We took the challenge to work hard and outwork the other team. We try to get rebounds. There’s a dog in us, and we fight for every rebound. Overall, it was a good effort.”
Greenfield lost the rebounding battle, 33-26. The Knights connected on 2-of-12 attempts from 3-point range and shot 21 of 51 from the floor for 41% accuracy. Grace knocked down 5-of-16 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc and wound up 19-of-50 from the field (38 percent). Greenfield’s defense forced 18 turnovers, including 10 steals, and committed just 10 turnovers.
“Defensively, we were really good,” Salter evaluated. “We guarded, rotated and made them take tough shots. The bench gave us some spark in the first quarter. I liked our composure. Our guys are told to pop up and go to the next play.”
Greenfield’s decided advantage at the foul line frustrated the Eagles of head coach DeShannon Morris. Sensational in the first half, the Knights wound up converting 26 of 38 foul tosses as compared to 8 of 10 for Grace, which had three players to foul out. Greenfield players dealt with foul woes, but none exited via the foul route.
Greenfield point guard Kobe Edwards goes airborne during a home win over Grace Christian of Raleigh in the semifinals of the Greenfield Christmas Tournament. Sheldon Vick | Special to the Times
The Eagles were led by 6-3 senior Julien King with 21 points. Junior Quasim Oden tossed in 14 and junior Steven McLeod claimed a game-high 12 rebounds.
Hampton Evans surfaced with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds for the Knights. Kirby scored 12 points. Cole Evans handed out four assists and junior Bryson Wall notched three steals. Adair contributed 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
“I come off the bench and I take pride in that,” Adair, in his first year with the Knights, commented of his role.”I try to control the things I can.”
However, Adair did not take pride in his 0-for-5 showing from the foul line.
“Totally unacceptable,” Adair responded with a shake of his head. “I’ve got to work on that. I’ll be in the gym (Friday), shooting free throws.”
Salter mentioned Adair and Wall as the epitome of blue-collar players. Hampton Evans’ performance was lauded.
“(Adair and Wall) don’t have to score,” Salter declared. “They still impact the game. Jack plays with heart and makes winning plays. He was great tonight on the glass and talking on defense.
“You saw all of Hampton tonight – which was great. He’s understanding a lot of things you can’t control and you’ve got to keep playing.”
Both Salter and Adair are confident the Knights are poised for Friday night’s championship test against Trinity, a team that defeated the Knights last season.
“We want to be one machine out there,” Salter said. “Tonight, we were pretty good.”
GRACE CHRISTIAN (51)
Oden 14, Swecker, Pettis 2, McLeod 6, King 21, G. Lyon 3, Kyristi 3, D.Lyon, Tate, Laraway, Carless 2, Attaberry.
GREENFIELD (70)
K. Edwards 6, N. Edwards 3, Kirby 12, Atkinson 2, H. Evans 23, Sherrod 9, Adair 11, C. Evans 4, Wall, Baptiste.
Score by quarters:
Grace Christian 14 7 14 16 – 51
Greenfield 16 16 12 26 – 70
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Fayetteville Academy 59, Grace Christian (Sanford) 50
Trinity Academy 72, Northwood Temple 63
Grace Christian (Raleigh) 54, Crossroads Christian 48
Greenfield 83, New Life Christian 36
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Losers’ Bracket
Northwood Temple 77, Grace Christian (Sanford) 56
Crossroads Christian 89, New Life Christian 69
Winners’ Bracket
Trinity Academy 68, Fayetteville Academy 48
Greenfield 70, Grace Christian (Raleigh) 51
FRIDAY’S GAMES
7th-place game
3 p.m. – Grace Christian (Sanford) vs. New Life Christian
5th-place game
4:30 – Crossroads Christian vs. Northwood Temple
3rd-place game
6 p.m. – Fayetteville Academy vs. Grace Chrisitan (Raleigh)
Championship game
7:30 – Trinity Academy vs. Greenfield