St. George’s regains composure to beat Briarcrest in OT

By Jason Williams

Collierville, TN – St. George’s players could have sulked after blowing a four-point lead with three seconds to go, but instead they responded by dominating Briarcrest in overtime to win 73-61 Saturday at the Stokes Fieldhouse.

After Gus Gran‘s lay-up, St. George’s Connor Green was trapped in the corner by two Briarcrest defenders. Falling out of bounds, Green tried to make a pass, but it was deflected and fell in the hands of Briarcrest’s KeShun Pinkney under the basket, tying the game at the end of regulation.

“I think anybody, in that situation, would be a little bit deflated,” said St. George’s head coach Jeff Ruffin.

The Gryphons (10-0) bounced back and made 12 of 14 free throws in the extra period to seal a hard-fought victory over the Saints (5-4).

Justin Wertner led St. George’s with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Chase Hayden scored 17 points. Green, an Ole Miss baseball commit, scored 10 points.

The inside duo of Gran and Will Hrubes combined for 31 points and eight rebounds for Briarcrest, but the Saints could not generate any offense in overtime. After shooting 60 percent in the second half, Briarcrest made only 2 of 10 shots in overtime.

“We had some kids who didn’t know their assignments on some offensive sets, and that hurt us a bunch of times,” said Briarcrest head coach John Harrington. “We missed a couple one-and-ones.”

The second half was a series of runs for each team. St. George’s went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter. Briarcrest responded with a 9-0 run spanning the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth.

But coach Ruffin settled down his team and delivered his players a message that translated on the court.

“I told them I thought (Briarcrest) was pushing us too far out on the floor,” coach Ruffin said. “We needed to v-cut to get on the wings a little better, and our post players needed to stay in the post a little bit more and work together a little bit more. I thought our guards did a great job though of handling their press and being composed. I thought they all did a really good job.”

Unofficial box score:

No.	BCS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
4	Gus Gran*	19	6	1	3	0	0	8-15	0-1	3-5
20	Will Hrubes	12	2	1	0	0	1	4-7	0-1	4-5
21	Maceo Woodard*	9	5	2	5	0	0	4-8	1-2	0-0
10	Mark French*	7	3	4	1	0	2	2-5	1-1	2-3
11	Adam Pike*	5	2	3	1	0	0	2-7	1-4	0-0
35	Micah Thomas*	5	0	0	3	1	1	2-7	1-6	0-0
2	Marc Wilhite	2	0	1	1	0	0	1-2	0-0	0-0
15	KeShun Pinkney	2	1	2	2	0	3	1-2	0-0	0-0
32	Will Carter	0	1	1	1	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		61	25	15	17	1	7	24-53	4-15	9-13

No.	SGIS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
4	Justin Wertner*	23	10	1	2	0	1	8-15	1-4	6-7
2	Chase Hayden*	17	1	0	2	0	2	6-11	1-2	4-6
33	Connor Green*	10	4	0	4	0	2	3-9	0-0	4-5
10	Colin Kraus*	9	2	0	0	0	0	3-5	1-2	2-2
34	Noah Pope	9	4	0	6	0	2	2-2	0-0	5-5
42	Christian Despeaux*	5	5	0	0	0	0	2-5	1-1	0-0
14	Justin Scott	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0
25	Corey Jones	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	6	–	2	–	–	0-1	–	–
Totals		73	32	1	16	0	7	24-49	4-10	21-25

1st Quarter	Briarcrest	St. George’s
Points	14	14
FG	6-12	5-11
3P	1-4	1-2
FT	1-1	3-3
TO	3	1

2nd Quarter	Briarcrest	St. George’s
Points	11	9
FG	4-11	4-9
3P	0-0	1-2
FT	3-4	0-1
TO	5	8

3rd Quarter	Briarcrest	St. George’s
Points	14	18
FG	6-10	8-14
3P	1-3	2-3
FT	1-2	0-0
TO	5	2

4th Quarter	Briarcrest	St. George’s
Points	18	16
FG	6-10	5-13
3P	2-3	0-3
FT	4-6	6-7
TO	3	4

Overtime	Briarcrest	St. George’s
Points	4	16
FG	2-10	2-2
3P	0-5	0-0
FT	0-0	12-14
TO	1	1

Game Stats	Briarcrest	St. George’s
Points	61	73
FG	24-53	24-49
3P	4-15	4-10
FT	9-13	21-25
TO	17	16

Bolton rides team effort to 56-49 win over Briarcrest

By Jason Williams

ARLINGTON, TN – One week ago, Bolton senior guard DeAunte Houston scored 30 points to lead the Wildcats to a road win over Collierville. Tuesday night, he took a different approach in helping his team earn a hard-fought victory over Briarcrest 56-49.

Houston only scored five points on 2-for-12 shooting, but his 10 rebounds helped the Wildcats (7-2) in a sloppy game with a frantic pace against the Saints (5-2).

“(I focused on the) little things we do, like rebounding like I did, assists, passing the ball and controlling the floor,” Houston said. “Just being a point guard.”

Picking up the slack on the offensive end was fellow senior guard Trebor Jackson, who was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points. Jackson displayed an arsenal of offensive moves, scoring from all areas of the court. After shooting five three-pointers in the opening quarter, Jackson changed his approach to a mid-range and inside game.

“The team noticed that he had a mismatch on him, so we tried to take him inside because of the height difference that he had,” said Bolton head coach D.J. Simpson.  “He’s able to post up. The other thing is our quick guards are getting good penetration and allowing him to get his shot off tonight. He can create on his own too, but I think it’s better to say it was a team effort. They all played well together.”

When Briarcrest adjusted to stopping Jackson, starting forward Raekwon Baker became the recipient of clean looks after the Saints’ defense crashed.  Baker added 17 points, including 15 in the second half.

“That comes with them having to double team the penetration that we had,” Simpson said.  “We were willing to give the ball up.”

Sophomore forward Micah Thomas led the Saints with 18 points and nine rebounds.  With the Saints trailing 17-8 after the first quarter, Thomas scored 10 points to even the game at 25 at halftime.

Bolton started the second half on an 11-0 run before Briarcrest guard Mark French’s mid-range floater. French would score eight points in the third frame, but the Wildcats took a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter.

The Saints cut the lead to five after French swished a three from the corner on an in-bounds play with 1:05 remaining, but Baker added his final two points in the paint with 30 seconds left to seal the Wildcats’ victory.

Other news and notes from the BCS-Bolton game:

Stuffing the stat sheet: Briarcrest forward Micah Thomas led the Saints with 18 points and nine rebounds, but he added six blocks and six steals to add to an impressive night for the 6-foot-7 sophomore.  While Thomas is still a raw athlete on the offensive end, his athleticism gives the Saints a boost defensively in the paint and in the press.

“(Briarcrest head coach John Harrington) just told me to get at the top of the 3-2 press,” Thomas said.  “He tells me to get down low, get in a stance more, get my feet away from a smaller guard and use my length so I can get steals.”

Bolton head coach D.J. Simpson told his team to drive at Thomas in the paint to get him in foul trouble but noted that Thomas forced his team to alter their shots at the rim.

“We were actually trying to get him in foul trouble, but he did a great job,” Simpson said.  “He made us change our shots when we went in sometimes, but overall, we stayed focused and kept attacking the rim.”

Colleges taking notice of Bolton’s Houston, Jackson: Senior guards DeAunte Houston and Trebor Jackson said after the game that both of them are getting attention from Division III schools and some junior colleges, but both said they have particular schools in mind. Houston said he is focusing on UT-Chattanooga, while Jackson said he favors Jackson State University.

Unofficial box score:

No.	Bolton player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
21	Trebor Jackson*	21	7	2	4	0	2	9-18	3-7	0-0
30	Raekqwon Baker*	17	3	0	3	0	1	8-11	0-0	1-3
20	Javonte Ray	6	0	1	0	0	0	3-5	0-0	0-0
3	DeAunte Houston*	5	10	4	3	0	3	2-12	1-3	0-3
5	Nick Brunson*	5	1	3	4	0	1	2-3	1-2	0-0
50	Mactavius Wilson*	2	5	0	1	0	0	1-5	0-0	0-0
33	Latheus Lloyd	0	2	0	2	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0
44	Zavier Goode	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		56	33	10	17	0	7	25-56	5-13	1-6

No.	BCS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
35	Micah Thomas	18	9	1	2	6	6	6-15	2-8	4-7
10	Mark French*	13	4	1	4	0	3	5-6	3-4	0-0
4	Gus Gran*	6	3	0	1	0	0	3-7	0-1	0-0
20	Will Hrubes	6	5	3	2	1	0	3-4	0-0	0-0
11	Adam Pike*	2	3	2	3	0	0	0-6	0-5	2-2
21	Maceo Woodard*	2	4	3	4	0	1	1-6	0-1	0-0
32	Will Carter	2	0	0	2	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0
2	Marc Wilhite	0	0	1	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
15	Keshun Pinkney*	0	1	0	3	0	1	0-0	0-0	0-0
22	Emerick Lester	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	1	–	1	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		49	30	11	22	7	11	19-45	5-19	6-9

Briarcrest defeats FACS behind Gran’s double-double, French’s free throws

By Jason Williams

EADS, TN – Turnovers prevented Briarcrest from maintaining an 11-point third quarter lead, but sophomore point guard Mark French protected the ball and hit key free throws in the final minutes Monday night to give the Saints a 55-50 win over FACS.

With the ball in his hands against the FACS (4-2) press, French wove through defenders and made five of six free throws to stop the Crusaders’ comeback and give Briarcrest (5-1) the victory.

“French is a great free throw shooter and a great ball handler,” said Briarcrest head coach John Harrington. “He understands the game for only a sophomore.”

French, who is generously listed at 5-foot-7, finished with nine points and five rebounds to go along with his game-clinching free throws.

“He definitely lives for that situation,” senior Gus Gran said. “He wanted the ball. Everyone wanted to give him the ball. He’s clutch when it comes down to that. It’s natural to him.”

Gran, also a Division 2-AA west all-region tight end, led the team with 17 points and 13 rebounds. With only two weeks of practice under his belt after football season, Harrington said Gran is still rusty, but his strength and toughness in the paint are a huge help to the team.

“He’s rusty,” Harrington said. “He’s strong around the basket though. He did a great job of guarding them in the post.”

FACS stayed in the game with a barrage of three-pointers at key moments. The Crusaders made nine of 20 from long range, including three in the final 1:07 of the game to cut into the Saints lead.

R.J. Jackson led the Crusaders with 19 points, including five three-pointers. Javier Farmer also added 13 points.

Other news and notes from the BCS-FACS game:

Homecoming: Briarcrest head coach John Harrington led the Saints to a victory over his alma mater, where he scored over 1,800 points from 1976-79.

Last line of defense: Sophomore forward Micah Thomas protected the paint in the Saints’ victory with five blocks, including several emphatic swats. Listed at 6-foot-6, Thomas is the tallest player on the Saints’ roster. At one point during the game, Harrington was ready to take Thomas out before an assistant stopped him.

“He’s so long, and he’s so quick off the floor,” Harrington said. “At one point, I was about ready to take him out, and coach (Kevin) Sneathern said he’s our best defensive player right now because he’s contesting every shot. He helped a lot in the area.”

Unofficial box score:

No.	BCS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
4	Gus Gran*	17	13	0	6	0	2	6-7	1-1	4-7
21	Maceo Woodard*	10	3	3	2	2	0	4-9	1-1	1-2
10	Mark French*	9	5	1	2	0	0	2-4	0-2	5-6
15	Keshun Pinkney*	9	1	2	3	0	0	3-3	1-1	2-3
35	Micah Thomas	7	2	2	1	5	0	3-11	0-4	1-3
11	Adam Pike*	3	4	3	3	0	3	1-5	1-4	0-2
20	Will Hrubes	0	1	0	2	0	2	0-1	0-0	0-0
32	Will Carter	0	3	1	1	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0
–	TEAM	–	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		55	35	12	20	7	7	19-41	4-14	13-23

No.	FACS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
20	R.J. Jackson*	19	2	2	3	0	2	7-15	5-9	0-0
15	Javier Farmer*	13	2	1	5	0	0	5-10	3-6	0-0
24	Wesley Funk*	7	6	0	1	0	0	3-7	1-3	0-0
33	Douwante Thomas*	7	6	1	1	1	3	3-8	0-0	1-4
2	Marico Tate	4	2	3	3	0	0	2-3	0-0	0-0
3	Jack Evans*	0	0	3	1	0	0	0-6	0-2	0-0
22	Chris Collins	0	2	0	1	1	0	0-2	0-0	0-2
23	Nathan Pennington	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		50	24	10	15	2	5	20-51	9-20	1-6