In a cross town rivalry between friends who try to out-dress one another on the sideline, the Greenville Christian Saints defeated the St. Joseph Catholic School Fighting Irish 54-50 in an overtime thriller.
With 1:38 remaining in overtime, Greenville Christian guard Eric Ekanem banked in a three point shot to give the Saints a 52-48 lead. In a nip and tuck battle, this key basket kept Greenville Christian at a critical two possession lead to close the deal.
After several lead changes, chances to win and ties in the fourth quarter the cross town rivals needed overtime to break their 46 all deadlock at the end of regulation.
“We played pretty well until we tried to force the ball in our half court offense,” said Saints head coach Logan Collins. “When they started cheated up on their half court defense, we had trouble with it and started turning the ball over. That’s how we ended up in overtime.”
Thanks to the gritty play of Fighting Irish forward Dillon Johnson and a scrappy cast of teammates, St. Joe clawed their way back into the game despite being down double digits several times. “We’re still getting use to playing. This is only our fourth game,” said St. Joe head coach James Hunter. “These guys put the fight in Fighting Irish. Ralph Henry and Mekhi Norris played well for us tonight.”
St Joe opened the third quarter by scoring the first points to close to a single point at 25-24. Because of three offensive fouls in five possessions the Fighting Irish failed to tie or take the lead. Greenville Christian settled into their offensive sets and De Erick Calvin scored their first basket of the third quarter on a layup. He also came up with two big blocks, another layup and an old fashion three point play in the final two minutes to keep St. Joe at bay. Johnson drained a three pointer as time expired in the third quarter to close the Saints lead to 37-35 headed into the final frame.
“De Erick has been a real blessing for us,” Collins said. “I’m just trying to get him to understand that he doesn’t have to do it all, he has four other guys out there with him.”The Saints demonstrated patience and poise in the first quarter by moving the ball around and getting everyone involved. Johnson got fouled on a three point attempt and went to the charity stripe converting all three free throws to pull the Fighting Irish to within 7-5 at the 3:02 mark. But Greenville Christian responded with a 9-2 run that included Marlon Palmer’s tenacious penetration to the hoop, Calvin’s interior play and the silky smooth shooting of Josiah Claiborne from the three point line to close the quarter and end it with a 16-7 lead. Greenville Christian maintained the lead throughout the second quarter and led 25-15 at the half.
Collins said that game is always a toss up regarding who would emerge as the winner, but he maintains that the fashion battle is no contest.
“As far as that’s concerned, that’s debatable,” Hunter said. “But I knew I was in trouble when he came out wearing Christmas lights.”
