CHARLOTTE – No. 1-ranked Christ Presbyterian Academy flexed its muscles Friday night in the Region 6-AA championship game.
The Lions rode a hot start to an 81-62 win over previously undefeated Creek Wood to claim the title in front of a packed house at Creek Wood High School.
“It wasn’t so much we were worried about giving them their first loss,” CPA coach Drew Maddux said. “We want to rehearse and go through the process of what it means to try to win a championship.”
With the win Friday night, CPA earned the right to host a home game in the sectional Tuesday against Maplewood. Creek Wood will travel to Pearl-Cohn for its game.
CPA (30-4) hit six straight buckets to jump out to a 13-0 lead, forcing Creek Wood (30-1) to call a timeout just more than two minutes into the game.
“We knew we had to come out and have the first punch,” CPA’s Braxton Blackwell said. “Coach (Maddux) has been preaching it all week. We knew we had to lock up and we did a great job tonight.”
The Lions extended the margin to 16 points by the end of the quarter to hold a 29-13 lead after one.
Creek Wood used an 11-0 second-quarter run to narrow the gap to 10 before eighth-grader Tyger Campbell sank a layup just before halftime to send the Lions to the locker room with a 45-33 lead.
The Red Hawks tried to claw their way back in the second half, but CPA answered every Creek Wood run with a momentum swing of its own to run out the clock.
After finishing with more than 80 points in each of its past 17 games and averaging 87 on the season, CPA held the Red Hawks to less than 70 for just the third time this season. Creek Wood tallied 62 in each of its first two contests of the season.
“The big thing we said tonight was to enjoy this crowd, this atmosphere and play in the moment,” Creek Wood coach Charles Taylor said. “A loss is a loss. It doesn’t end our season, so it doesn’t taste nearly as bad.”
Blackwell provided a continuous shot of energy for the Lions, pouring in a team-high 30 points on his way to tournament MVP honors. Campbell and Evan Ragsdale each added 16.
Creek Wood’s Issac Edmonds did his best to keep his Red Hawks in the game with a game-high 31 points.
Reach Sam Brown at 615-259-8232 and on Twitter @SamBrownTN.
