Griffin Christian’s Aqil Gilani (2) goes in for a layup Friday at home against Trinity Christian. Defending on the play for Trinity Christian is Mark Collier (45).
McCray also added 3 steals and 5 assists to help the Crusaders break their two-game losing streak and improve to 2-2 overall. Trinity Christian drops to 1-1.
The Crusaders started a bit slowly, but warmed up to lead 17-7 after the first quarter. They weren’t really challenged by the Lions after that, building a 24-9 lead at one point in the second quarter before settling for a 39-27 halftime lead. McCray did a great job running the offense at the point, freeing up veteran guards Jonathan Hammond and Wil Savage to move around the baselines and get good looks. McCray also hit some shots, scoring 10 points in the second quarter which included two 3-pointers.
The Crusaders as a whole shot the ball much better than they did during their home opener against The Weber School Nov. 13. They sank 7 treys, they passed the ball well and had several fast-break baskets in the contest. Four Crusaders scored in double figures Friday, which really pleased head coach Mic Savage.
“The balanced scoring was the key to the win. I like to see that from the guys,” coach Savage said. “We haven’t been getting that kind of scoring this season. It’s nice that we played well and broke our losing streak.”
The second half was more of the same for GC, as Hammond scored 9 points in the third quarter to help the Crusaders sprint out to a a 25-point lead, 63-38, entering the fourth quarter. After Amir Hightower’s fast-break layup gave GC its largest lead of the game at 72-46 with 3:51 left in regulation, coach Savage emptied his bench and gave his reserves some playing time.
Hammond and Aqil Gilani scored 14 points each for GC, followed by Wil Savage with 10 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds for the Crusaders. David Thomas also chipped in 5 rebounds for GC, which gets back into action Monday at Solid Rock Academy in Riverdale at 7 p.m.
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