In their 57-44 win over Starkville Academy Saturday, the Greenville Christian Saints had to grind like never before to capture the victory in the quarterfinals of the MAIS Overall Basketball Tournament.
With the win, the Saints advance to the Overall Semifinals today (Monday) where they will face Jackson Prep at 7:15 p.m.
In the first half on Saturday afternoon, nothing was going right for the Saints.
The Volunteers from Starkville Academy were playing more aggressive and seemed to want it more.
To make matters worse, with six minutes left until halftime, the Saints top big man, Daishun Scott, left the game with a knee injury.
Greenville Christian Coach Logan Collins was not pleased at halftime as his Saints trailed 21-16. “I told them we just played the worse we can possibly play and we were only down five at the half. I told them if we come out and play our type of basketball, I like our chances.”
In the second half, the Saints started to play like the Saints.
GCS was led, once again, by senior star point guard DJ Smith. Smith scored 28 points in the game, with 14 of these coming in the third quarter, when GCS got its first lead of the game.
With Scott sidelined because of injury, Greenville Christian’s KD Rancifer and Al Sandifer each gave valuable minutes in the paint during the second half.
“I can’t say enough about Al,” Coach Collins said. “Al has worked hard all season. He has not gotten as much playing time as he should have. For him to come off the bench and play the way he played was quite special. He usually comes in and hits a bunch of threes and gets the crowd fired up, but today it was his defense that shined.”
Josiah Claiborne was another key contributor for Greenville Christian. The Saints never trailed in the fourth quarter thanks to seven points scored by Claiborne in the period. Claiborne’s three-pointer with five minutes remaining put GCS up by six points.
“I have all the faith in the world in Josiah,” Coach Collins said. “I told him he just needs to have as much faith in himself as I do.”
Coach Collins said the road to the Overall Championship only gets tougher from here. Last year, the Saints lost in the Overall Championship in overtime to Madison-Ridgeland Academy.
To get to the championship game again, coach Collins and his squad know they will face another tough opponent against Jackson Prep Mondau.
“We just played a heck of a team who had some guys who can flat out play. They were big, fast, tall and aggressive.”
“This is going to be the way it is the rest of the way for us. We are going to have to grind it out.”
