It’s been a tough Christmas break for the top-ranked Lexington Excessive Faculty boys’ basketball staff.
The Wildcats entered the Chick-Fil-A Traditional match having misplaced three of their previous 4 vacation match video games. Making issues much more difficult was Lexington’s opening spherical opponent in nationally-ranked Columbus Excessive Faculty out of Miami, Fla.
The defending Class 7A Florida Excessive Faculty champions sport the nation’s high sophomore in ahead Cameron Boozer and youthful brother Cayden. The Explorers additionally appeared to bounce again from seeing their eight-game profitable streak snapped by Imhotep Constitution per week earlier.
Led by a double-double effort by the older Boozer and stymied by a 0-19 taking pictures effort to open the sport, the Wildcats fell 84-44 for his or her third straight loss.
Cameron Boozer scored 23 factors and grabbed 16 rebounds and Cayden had 14 factors and 7 assists for Columbus (9-2). Benny Fragela had 12 factors and Garyn Bess added 11 factors for the Explorers, who opened the sport with a 14-0 run.
Cam Scott had 12 factors to guide Lexington, which fell behind 19-1 within the first quarter. A free throw by Scott was the lone level scored for the Wildcats by means of the primary 11:47 of the opening half.
A layup by Montrell Byrd with 4:43 left within the second quarter was the primary area objective of the sport for Lexington. It closed out the primary half with an 8-0 run to chop the deficit to 35-11 at halftime.
Whereas the Wildcats had been simply 1-14 on three-pointers, Columbus hit three throughout an 11-2 run to open second half. Its lead stretched as excessive as 46 factors halfway within the fourth quarter.
Columbus will face John Marshall (Va.) within the 3:50 p.m. semifinal on Dec. 29.
Regardless of the lopsided loss, Lexington head coach Elliott Pope remained deal with the larger image forward for his staff which is area play and past.
“Taking part in a Prime 5 staff within the nation. It’s what it’s,” he stated. “That helps us get higher for Dutch Fork, for River Bluff, for White Knoll and Chapin. That is the objective of this. It is not essentially, you recognize, clearly serving to these guys get publicity in entrance of school coaches is necessary, however on the finish of the day, the way in which that the playoffs are arrange within the state is we now have an eight-game season that begins in 10 days. So that is what we’re involved about. You already know, loads of coach converse, however is what it’s. We’ve obtained to get ready for the eight video games in area.”
Lexington (6-5) returns to motion in opposition to Greensboro Day (N.C.) in a 9:10 a.m. comfort recreation.
Night time two concluded with the three-point taking pictures and slam dunk contests. Cardinal Newman’s Jordan Frazier beat out John Marshall Jayem’s Jason Rivera in a tiebreaker to crown a Palmetto State three-point taking pictures champion for the second straight yr and Calvary Christian Academy’s Carl Cherenfiant gained the slam dunk occasion.
American Bracket
John Marshall (Va.) 65, Greensboro Day (N.C.) 53
Damon Thompson scored 31 factors and Jason Rivera had 12 factors, 5 rebounds and 5 steals to guide the Justices.
Jaydon Younger had 19 factors and 12 rebounds for the Bengals.
Nationwide Bracket
The Rock Faculty (Fla.) 73, Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) 55
The Rock Faculty was really “cooking” from behind the arc.
It related on 10 three-pointers and had 4 gamers rating in double figures to advance to the semifinal. Ryan Jones had 19 factors, Evan Sterck scored 16, Clarence Massamba added 14 and Austin Leslie completed with 12.
Hillcrest had simply six gamers and an assistant coach on the bench. The opposite half of the staff and head coach Marcus Gantt had been unable to attend attributable to flight cancellations with Southwest Airways.
Tyshawn Bridges led Hillcrest with 24 factors and Aiden Sherrell had 17.
Calvary Christian Academy 60, Southern California Academy 46
Carl Cherenfiant scored 17 factors and grabbed 12 rebounds, Jaylen Curry had 14 factors and Shon Abaev and Ethan Lathan every had 10 factors within the victory.
Drew Fielder had 14 factors and Jahseen Felton had 10 factors for Southern California Academy.
Huntington Prep 67, Oak Hill Academy 54
Del Jones scored 20 factors and Maki and Larry Johnson every had 14 for Huntington Prep to advance to the semifinals.
Drayton Jones had 14 factors and 10 rebounds within the loss.
IMG Academy 77, Windfall Day 43
Amier Ali scored 15 factors and Jamie Kaiser Jr., Jacobi Hutchinson and Bryson Tucker all had 12 factors within the victory.
Riley Allenspach had a game-high 22 factors for Windfall Day.
Carolina Problem
Hartsville 53, Charlotte Christian Day 36
Kameron Forman scored 18 factors for the Crimson Foxes, who restricted John Lash to 13 factors after his 50-point outburst on Day One.
Cardinal Newman 83, Seaforth (N.C) 55
Jordan Frazier scored 27 factors and Evan Carter had 21 for the Cardinals.
Jarin Stevenson had a game-high 32 factors for the Hawks.
Harmony Academy 52, Richland Northeast 35
Avion Pinner scored 14 factors and J.J. Moore added 13 factors within the win.
Justice Johnson scored 13 factors for the Cavaliers.
Charlotte Nation Day 80, Augusta Christian Faculty 71
Dallas Gardner scored 33 factors to guide the Buccaneers.
DJ Shine had 22 factors for the Lions.
