TCA boys keep 2nd place hopes alive
There was no question that the final two games of the regular season were going to be an uphill battle for the Trinity Christian Academy boys basketball team.
The Lions had to win both to earn the No. 2 seed in the District 15-A tournament.
Mission 1 – complete. TCA beat city-rival Jackson Christian 67-46 on Friday at TCA.
Mission 2 – Monday. The Lions must now beat Riverside on Monday at home.
“Our backs were against a wall,” TCA coach Ken Northcut said. “It is good that we have everyone back in uniform, although we are still not 100 percent. I liked our mentality coming out in this one.”
Jackson Christian (17-10) is done with district play with an 8-4 record. TCA (15-11) and Riverside are tied at 7-4. If TCA wins Monday, the Lions earn the No. 2 seed after sweeping Jackson Christian with the Eagles third and Riverside fourth.
If Riverside wins, the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds will be decided by tiebreakers, while TCA will be No. 4.
TCA was led by Eli Parker with 18 points. Sergio Pagoaga added 15 points, while Thomas Harvey scored 12 points.
“We had to come out with the menality that we had to go 2-0 to finish the season,” Parker said. “Coach Northcut told us that we had to look in the mirror, and if we wanted to get second, we all had to come out and play our roles.”
This was Harvey’s first game back since having his appendix removed two weeks ago, and that was a big asset to the team.
“Thomas plays a huge foundational role on this team,” Parker said. “He has his height, but he also brings length on defense. He controls the boards along with Sergio.”
A layup by Riley Ragan with 6:09 left in the first half gave Jackson Christian a six-point lead, and a Northcut timeout quickly followed.
“We had to start making the easy plays and capitalize on our defensive stops,” Parker said.
The response after the timeout was a 16-2 run by the Lions that turned the six-point deficit into an eight-point advantage. Parker, Isaac Elliott and Justin Sidwell hit 3-pointers in the rally.
After the big rally in the second quarter, it was TCA’s defense in the third quarter that put the game away. The Lions held Jackson Christian to four points while increasing the lead to 15 points going into the final quarter.
“We jumped out there in the second quarter,” Northcut said. “We got them rattled with our half-court trap. They turned the ball, and we had some easy layups. We did a good job rebounding the ball and only allowing one-shot possessions.”
Jeremy Stewart led Jackson Christian with 15 points, while Ragan added 14.
Girls
TCA 46,
Jackson Chr. 36
With a win over Jackson Christian, the Lady Lions (13-13, 7-4) have secured the No. 3 seed in the District 15-A tournament.
TCA held the Lady Eagles (12-15, 5-7) to single digits in scoring for each of the first three quarters.
Brynne Lytle led the Lady Lions with 13 points with 11 coming in the second half.
Jackson Christian, who will be the No. 4 seed because of sweeping Scotts Hill, was led by Amelia Grizzell with 16 points.
Michael Odom, 425-9754