WEST POINT – What a way to start off 2018 for the West Point girls and Good Hope's boys, along with the JV boys, coming away with big wins Tuesday night.
Good Hope 42, West Point 37 (JVB)
Things started off slow between both teams, but Good Hope's Tanner Malin had a big quarter, scoring eight of the Raiders’ 10 points in the first. West Point's Lawson Burgess hit a shot just before the buzzer sounded to cut it to 10-5 after one.
Malin, along with Max Bavar, helped Good Hope stretch its lead to 16-5 with 3:54 remaining in the first half. West Point struggled on offense for most of the half, but a Kobe Bowers three finally gave the Warriors their first basket of the quarter, then later on, Tyler White hit a layup to cut it to 16-10, and Harper Chiaranda nailed a three to make it 19-10 at the half.
The start of the third quarter was a mirror copy of the first half, as both teams struggled to score points early, but West Point did make it a 19-14 game behind two free throws by Will Brown and a layup by Bowers. Good Hope finally got on the scoreboard on a layup by Malin at the 3:20 mark of the quarter. Then, both teams started to get their offenses going. After a Chiaranda layup made it 27-19, the Warriors finished the quarter on a mini 5-0 run to make it a 27-24 game going into the final period.
A Baver layup, followed by three free throws by Dawson Turner, quickly stretched Good Hope’s lead to 31-24. But, treys by Bowers and White cut it to 32-30 with 3:11 left in the game. Later on, a Bowers layup, followed by an Elvis Arroyo trey, gave the Warriors a 35-34 lead, but they didn't have it for long, as two more free throws by Turner, followed by a trey from the left corner, gave the Raiders a 39-35 advantage. West Point cut it to 39-37 on a Brown layup, but three free throws by Malin finally sealed the Raider win at the end.
Malin finished with 17 for the game for Good Hope. Turner ended up with 10. Bavar had eight. Chiaranda ended up with five, and Justin Crumpton had two. The Raiders will play at home vs. Dora on Thursday.
Bowers and White each finished with 10 for West Point. Arroyo had nine. Brown ended up with four, and Burgess had two. The Warriors will take on Fairview at home on Friday.
West Point 64, Good Hope 44 (Varsity Girls)
Both teams got off to very slow starts with six turnovers combined, and bad shot selection kept them both scoreless for almost four minutes until West Point's Miriam Oldacre hit a layup at the 4:14 mark for the first basket of the game. Lexi Shadix made it 5-0 with a layup and a free throw, and Good Hope's Leyton Seal finally got her team on the scoreboard with a trey at the 2:41 mark that was answered by a Lady Warrior trey by Mackenzie Carter. But the Lady Raiders' finished the quarter on a 7-0 lead behind a layup by Kate Kent and five quick points by Erika Woodall, including a three by the latter, to give Good Hope a 10-8 lead after one quarter.
Seal nailed another trey to stretch the Lady Raiders’ lead to 13-8. Then, Shadix got red-hot, nailing a pair of threes, followed by a layup, to give the Lady Warriors a 16-13 lead. Good Hope took a 17-16 lead off an Abby Neighbors rebound and put-back with 5:08 remaining in the first half, but it was all West Point after that, as Olivia Ball nailed a three to start a quarter-ending 14-3 run, which ended with a Micah Oldacre getting a trey of her own before the buzzer to give the Lady Warriors a 30-20 lead at the half.
Miriam Oldacre stretched West Point's lead to 33-20 on a three, but Good Hope's Seal hit one of her own to push it back down to 10. Five quick points by Micah Oldacre made it 38-23, and Good Hope looked to cut the deficit before the buzzer sounded, as Woodall hit a shot before it went off, to make it 44-30 after three.
West Point stretched its lead to 20 at one point in the final quarter, and Good Hope could not get out of the double-digit hole as West Point played ferocious defense to keep the Lady Raiders at bay to take home a 64-44 win.
Miriam Oldacre and Shadix each had 17 points to lead no. 8 West Point. Shadix also added eight rebounds and seven steals. Carter had 11 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks. Micah Oldacre ended up with 10 points, five rebounds and a pair of steals. Ball had five points and two steals, and Kyler Hembree had four points and four rebounds. The Lady Warriors improve to 13-6 on the season.
Woodall had 18 points to lead Good Hope. She also added five rebounds and a steal. Seal added nine points, six rebounds and two steals. Kent finished with six points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Neighbors had five points and five rebounds. Rudi Derrick ended up with four points, and Bailey Swann had two. The Lady Raiders’ record falls to 6-11 on the season.
Good Hope 63, West Point 58 (Varsity Boys)
Good Hope didn't waste any time getting off to a quick start as a Michael Lowe put-back basket, followed by five quick points by Isaac McDonald later in the first, gave the Raiders a 7-1 lead with 4:17 remaining in the quarter. At the 3:52 mark, West Point's Kolton Sapp hit the Warriors’ first basket of the quarter, then added a 3-point play later on, cutting the Raider lead to 7-6. They didn't stop there, as an 8-2 quarter-ending run, which was highlighted by a Landon Ray trey from the right corner, gave them a 14-9 lead and the momentum.
The Raiders started off the second quarter strong, as a 3-point play by Lowe, followed by five quick points by Drew Maddox, gave them a 17-16 lead. The lead flip-flopped a few times in the quarter as each team looked for that big run again to stretch the lead. After three points by Sapp gave them a 24-22 lead, Cole Maddox got his first points of the game on a pair of free throws to tie the game. Austin Dubberly completed a 3-point play to give West Point a 28-24 advantage, and added a layup to make it 30-26 at the half.
The third quarter saw West Point quickly increased its lead to 33-26 to start it off, but layups by Matt Dixon and Noah Fendley cut the deficit to just three at 33-30. After a Sapp layup made it 35-30, Dixon nailed a three from the right corner to make it a 35-33 game, then Cole Maddox took over from there, putting up 11 third-quarter points, and Zach Phares scored his first varsity points for the Raiders to give them a 44-40 lead, then McDonald and Cole Maddox each added a pair from the charity stripe as they finished the quarter strong, outscoring the Warriors, 18-7, to take a 48-42 lead after three.
Every time West Point looked to start a run, McDonald hit a big shot to keep the lead at a sizable advantage. After the Warriors cut it to 51-47 on a Jones layup and a Dalton White free throw, McDonald nailed a deep trey to make it 54-47. West Point cut it to 56-52 on another Sapp layup with 2:29 remaining in the game, but McDonald added one of his own to push it back to six, then to seven on a Dixon free throw, but the Warriors were not done, as a pair of Whit Laney free throws, plus a layup by Sapp, made it a 59-56 game. A layup by Good Hope's Drew Maddox, followed up by a pair of free throws later on by Dubberly, kept it at a three-point game, then Fendley sealed the game at the line to give Good Hope a 63-58 victory.
McDonald had a big game offensively, putting up a game-high 20 points, plus he added a pair of huge steals late in the fourth quarter to help seal the win. Cole Maddox ended up with 15 points, four rebounds and a big steal late as well. Dixon added eight points, five rebounds and a steal of his own, as he came up big in hustle plays. Drew Maddox had seven points, plus four rebounds. Fendley had six points, three rebounds and a pair of key steals late. Lowe had five points, a steal and a block, and Phares had two points as the Raiders won a big road game without two of their main players in the lineup in Kallen Sharpton and Landyn Freeman and look to get them back on Thursday against Dora at home. They improve to 9-7 on the season.
"I'm really proud of the way they gritted and fought to get the win," Good Hope coach Drew Adams said. "We hadn't beaten West Point in a long time. We came close a number of times, but this time, we got it done tonight, especially without two of our main guys."
"It was big for me to have this performance against West Point," McDonald said. "We hadn't beaten this team since the sixth grade, so this was a huge win for us. We showed heart and hustle to get those steals late. We wanted it more than they did."
Sapp led West Point (8-9) with 18 points and four rebounds. Dubberly ended up with 14 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Rylan Jones had nine points, seven rebounds, three steals and a block. Ray finished with nine points as well. White had four points and a pair of rebounds. Laney had four points as well. The Warriors look to recover on Friday as they take on Fairview at home in a big area game.
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