Cedar Grove’s Javonte Floyd (15) slams home a the first of four dunks on the night as he combined with Manny Green to lead the Saints to a 61-39 win over the Columbia Eagles. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Cedar Grove Saints flexed their muscles with a 21-point third quarter to pull away from the Columbia Eagles for a 61-39 victory in a non-region matchup at Columbia on Tuesday.
Cedar Grove’s defense held the Eagles to five points in the third quarter as they steadily pulled away from a 30-21 halftime lead to a 51-26 advantage at the end of the period.
Javonte Floyd started a 12-0 run with 4:25 left in the quarter on the way to six points, including a pair of dunks. The final dunk came on a lob pass from Manny Green, who also had a driving dunk in the run, for the final basket of the quarter.
Columbia went on a 9-2 run to open the fourth quarter led by a pair of steals and baskets by Xavier Lewis, a three-pointer by Brandon Bigsby and a steal and basket from Princeton King to close the gap to 53-35 with 5:22 to play.
Green hit a three-pointer on an assist from Dontavius Stringfield and finished the quarter with seven points. Qa’vion Mobley hit a pair of late baskets for the Eagles.
Cedar Grove was 17-7 early in the second quarter when the Eagles found a spark in the form of a 9-1 run to pull within 18-16 with 4:10 to play in the first half. Carlin Jacobs got the Eagles started with a layup and Nate Winter’s three with 4:10 pulled the Eagles within two.
Keith Gillespie answered on the Saints (1-1) next possession with a three of his own to push the lead back out to five and the Eagles would not get any closer the rest of the way.
Green finished the night with 20 points (2 dunks) and nine rebounds while Floyd added 14 points (4 dunks) and 13 rebounds.
Columbia (1-1) was led by Lewis with nine points and Deontae Hill with 4 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Columbia’s Aalon Turner (3) looks to penetrate against the Cedar Grove defense as teammate De’Asia Kelly cuts to the basket during Columbia’s 59-27 home court victory on Tuesday night. (Photo by Mark Brock)
GIRLS
Columbia 59, Cedar Grove 27
Aalon Turner hit for a game-high 17 points to fuel the Columbia Lady Eagles to a 59-27 non-region home victory on Tuesday night at Columbia.
Turner got six of her points in the first two minutes to go with six more from teammate Kendall Campbell as the Eagles opened the game on a 12-0 run.
Asssata McIntyre hit for five points, including three-pointer as Columbia forged to 24-9 advantage after a quarter of play.
Kenidee Blackshear played a role in a 6-0 run in the second quarter as Cedar Grove (0-2) closed the gap to 26-15 with 3:18 to play. Blackshear had an assist to Paris Hornsby, had a steal for a basket of her own and then took a pass from Malaya McGutchem for another score.
Columbia answered with a 12-0 run to end the half keyed by a three-pointer from the hands of Londyn Durden and a steal by Skylon Forrest who passed ahead to Turner for the bucket and a 38-15 lead at the half.
Durden keyed a 14-0 run to open the third quarter with a seven-point spurt that included a three-pointer to make it 51-15. McIntyre added a basket with 15 seconds left in the period on a pass from Forrest for a 54-18 lead.
Turner finished with her game-high 17 points long with five rebounds and was joined in double figures by Campbell who tacked on seven more rebounds.
Cedar Grove was led by Hornsby with 10 points on the night.