Knights and Cavaliers Split Basketball Doubleheader

The South Carroll boys wrapped up their second straight county title Friday night with a 57-31 victory over Century in front of a large Glod Rush crowd.

The game was part of a boys/girls doubleheader which saw the Century girls win the nightcap 48-29.

The Cavaliers jumped out in the boys game to a quick 7-1 lead in the first period and led 12-8 at the end of the period. They led at halftime 24-16. South Carroll came out in the third quarter and put the game away as they out scored the visitors 16-6.

"We didn’t hit the shots tonight," said Century coach George Wunder. "I thought we got a lot of good looks early. We just didn’t knock them down. Got to give credit to their defense. They are good defensively. They contest shots. I thought we missed some nice opportunies early on.  We needed some lay-ups or three’s to keep us in the game."

South Carroll had three players in double figures led by Gavin McTavish with 19 and Ethan McBryde and Dan Mullen each had 10 points. Also scoring for the Cavaliers was Ryan tate with six points, John Quinn with five, Matt Dee with four and Carson Dugstad with three.

"I was pretty happy with the first half. We had a couple break downs as far as our game plan from what we were trying to do," said Cavalier head coach Doug Goff. 

"We got an eight point lead and I was pretty happy with it. We came out and just kept trying to do, what we do as far as our defense philosophy. We played them before and watched them a lot on film. I thought we did a good job to keep the pressure on. Our defense is much better when we have a lead. We don’t have to attack you, you have to attack us.  That’s what we like and we were able to pull away."

South Carroll ended their county schedule with a 13-1 record and 18-4 overall. Century finished second in the county with a 11-3 mark and 16-4 overall.

When asked about the crowd Goff said, "This was just a great night for basketball. It’s just great for high school sports."

Michael Austin was the only Knight in double figures with 10 points. Joinign Autin in the scoring column was Mitch Sleight with seven points, Evan Fritsche with six, Chris Tan had five and Billy Dickman had three.

In the girls matchup, South Carroll took a 4-0 lead, but Century came back to knot the score and had a one point lead, 10-9 at the end of the first eight minutes of play.

Century ran to a 23-14 lead at halftime and kept the pressure on after the break to lead 38-20 at the end of the third quarter.

"They (Century) played a great game," said South Carroll coach Liz Padgett after the game.

Century had 11 players score in the contest with Tess Nichols and Angela Flister topped the team with nine points each. Alice Mercer collected eight points, Jamie Clark had five points, Allyson Belknap had four points, Cassidy Jones and Victoria Perrone had three each, Brooke Snyder, Alyssa Dixon and Haley Bordner each had two points and MacKenzie Patten had one point.

"I thought our kids played really, really well. It may have been the best we played all year," said Century head coach Joel Beard.

"The final score isn’t indicative of how good a team they are. We had a great night I thought. I thought Angela, Cassidy and Tess, I just can’t name one kid, but I thought those people did a nice job. We had Brooke Snyder off the bench and she hit a big shot before half. I’m real proud of them. They are great kids to work with. I have enjoyed this year and we still have some season left."

South Carroll was led by Nicole Levy with 15 points while Nicole Heim had five points, Makeba Ndifang four and Kristine Tennyson had three points.

Century compiled a 13-1 county record and 19-1 overall. South Carroll was 10-4 in the county and 13-9 overall.

In the first game of the night the coach Jim Carnes guided the South Carroll boys freshman team finished the season with a 14-0 record behind a 52-37 victory over Century.