HPCA boys reach title games
BY MICHAEL LINDSAYENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT — High Point Christian wasn’t about to let it get away again.The Cougars allowed a last-second 3-pointer to force overtime and trailed early in the extra period before making a 9-1 run to grab hold of the lead for good and beat Southwest Guilford 81-77 in the boys semifinals of the Sheetz Holiday Christmas basketball tournament at Southwest.
“First of all, hats off to Southwest — they’re a great team, super well-coached. It took everything and then some,” HPCA boys coach Joseph Cooper said. “I was really proud of our guys. In the tournament before Christmas, we made it to the semifinals and lost to a really good York Prep team out of South Carolina.
“We competed, but we obviously weren’t able to get to the championship. So, a big point was to take that additional step in this tournament and get to the championship. So our guys are pretty pumped about that.”
PJ Underhill scored 19 points to lead the Cougars (7-7), who struggled earlier in the season with five losses in six games but have pieced it back together lately — including back-to-back overtime victories. Landon Sutton added 18 points, followed by KJ Garrett with 16 pints and Drake Carrick with 11 points.
HPCA trailed by as many as nine in the first half before the teams went into halftime tied 30-30. It also led by as many as nine in the second half before the teams battled back and forth over the final four minutes. The Cougars scored seven straight to lead by fi ve with 29.5 seconds left.
But the Cowboys, the defending NCHSAA 3A state champions, scored on a putback with 17 seconds left to get within two. HPCA then missed a layup, allowing Southwest to quickly push the ball up the court to Bryce Causey for a 3-pointer from the corner with one second left to force overtime.The Cowboys scored the first four points of the extra period.
But the Cougars answered with nine of the next 10 points — scored by four different scorers — to lead by four with 28.5 seconds left as South-west had a couple pivot-al misses and turnovers over the final 2 1-2 minutes.
“It was a lot of the same message through-out — we weren’t going to be able to do it with just one guy,” Cooper said. “We could sit there and point fingers for the next four minutes or we could come together and be unified. And there really wasn’t finger-pointing. Guys were stunned but not upset — stuff like that happens.
“I was really proud of our guys for regrouping as quickly as they did. We were down in overtime and easily could’ve gone away and hung our heads, but I think that says a lot about our guys and the character they have to continue to fight and battle.”
Jeremy Mull scored 18 points to lead the Cowboys (7-4), who will face Wesleyan Christian in the third-place game today at 4:30 p.m. prior to HPCA taking on Pan-ther Creek for the championship at 7:30 p.m. Miles Taylor added 14 points, while Causey had 12 points.
“We were sporadic, inconsistent,” South-west coach Greg Vlazny said.
“In those waning moments of regulation, I thought we played well. But in the waning moments of overtime, we showed our inexperience. I told them there are no moral victories, but you can still learn from both positives and negatives.
“So, you can learn from how we fought back at the end of regulation and hit that clutch shot. No one can take that away from Bryce — that’s a big-time shot. So, own that and be good with that. But you can also learn from the end. I told them: You’ve got to slow your heart, take a deep breath, and know what you’re running and what your job is. If you don’t do that, you’ll make mistakes.”
BY MICHAEL LINDSAYENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT — High Point Christian wasn’t about to let it get away again.The Cougars allowed a last-second 3-pointer to force overtime and trailed early in the extra period before making a 9-1 run to grab hold of the lead for good and beat Southwest Guilford 81-77 in the boys semifinals of the Sheetz Holiday Christmas basketball tournament at Southwest.
“First of all, hats off to Southwest — they’re a great team, super well-coached. It took everything and then some,” HPCA boys coach Joseph Cooper said. “I was really proud of our guys. In the tournament before Christmas, we made it to the semifinals and lost to a really good York Prep team out of South Carolina.
“We competed, but we obviously weren’t able to get to the championship. So, a big point was to take that additional step in this tournament and get to the championship. So our guys are pretty pumped about that.”
PJ Underhill scored 19 points to lead the Cougars (7-7), who struggled earlier in the season with five losses in six games but have pieced it back together lately — including back-to-back overtime victories. Landon Sutton added 18 points, followed by KJ Garrett with 16 pints and Drake Carrick with 11 points.
HPCA trailed by as many as nine in the first half before the teams went into halftime tied 30-30. It also led by as many as nine in the second half before the teams battled back and forth over the final four minutes. The Cougars scored seven straight to lead by fi ve with 29.5 seconds left.
But the Cowboys, the defending NCHSAA 3A state champions, scored on a putback with 17 seconds left to get within two. HPCA then missed a layup, allowing Southwest to quickly push the ball up the court to Bryce Causey for a 3-pointer from the corner with one second left to force overtime.The Cowboys scored the first four points of the extra period.
But the Cougars answered with nine of the next 10 points — scored by four different scorers — to lead by four with 28.5 seconds left as South-west had a couple pivot-al misses and turnovers over the final 2 1-2 minutes.
“It was a lot of the same message through-out — we weren’t going to be able to do it with just one guy,” Cooper said. “We could sit there and point fingers for the next four minutes or we could come together and be unified. And there really wasn’t finger-pointing. Guys were stunned but not upset — stuff like that happens.
“I was really proud of our guys for regrouping as quickly as they did. We were down in overtime and easily could’ve gone away and hung our heads, but I think that says a lot about our guys and the character they have to continue to fight and battle.”
Jeremy Mull scored 18 points to lead the Cowboys (7-4), who will face Wesleyan Christian in the third-place game today at 4:30 p.m. prior to HPCA taking on Pan-ther Creek for the championship at 7:30 p.m. Miles Taylor added 14 points, while Causey had 12 points.
“We were sporadic, inconsistent,” South-west coach Greg Vlazny said.
“In those waning moments of regulation, I thought we played well. But in the waning moments of overtime, we showed our inexperience. I told them there are no moral victories, but you can still learn from both positives and negatives.
“So, you can learn from how we fought back at the end of regulation and hit that clutch shot. No one can take that away from Bryce — that’s a big-time shot. So, own that and be good with that. But you can also learn from the end. I told them: You’ve got to slow your heart, take a deep breath, and know what you’re running and what your job is. If you don’t do that, you’ll make mistakes.”
