The Bison won for just the second time this season, beating Calvary Baptist Day School 80-52 thanks to a strong first quarter that featured only two regular starters.
“We had a situation we were dealing with,” Central coach Patrick Battle said of his decision to sit three starters for the first quarter, “and the kids went out and played hard no matter who was out there. I was very impressed – they set the tone for us.”
Central (2-5) darted to a 17-7 lead with Sam Eberhart and Drew Adams playing alongside reserves Forrest Johnson and Kendall Stewart, plus junior varsity call-up J.D. Bryant. Eberhart scored seven points early, while Bryant – a sophomore – sparkled with four. Everybody on the floor crashed the boards and performed well on the defensive end, making it hard for the home fans to tell the difference between the starters and the stand-ins.
“They were working the plays – this summer we played with them, and they knew what to do,” Eberhart said. “It felt good because we knew our starters weren’t in there and we still had a big lead.”
Derek Grant emerged in the second quarter and scored eight of his 13 points, while Shaq Bethea had two buckets in the second quarter before finishing with seven points. Akeem Langham also had seven. Eberhart finished with a game-high 18 points, Roger Ingram had nine and Bryant finished with eight.
Stewart’s putback at the buzzer gave Central a 46-28 lead at halftime, and the lead stood at 61-37 entering the fourth. Calvary managed to stay close early with hot 3-point shooting – six of the team’s seven field goals in the second quarter came from long range – but the Cougars’ three players in double figures could not match the balanced Bison attack. Ben Shoesmith led Calvary with 17.
“We’re not going to let our situation define our season,” Battle said of his team’s disappointing start.
Another shot at getting back on track comes today at Southwest Guilford at 4:30 p.m. against Westchester Country Day.
shanf@hpe.com | 888-3526
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