Village vs Northwood Temple Recap
The first half was a back and forth matchup between the two squads with Village taking a small lead into the halftime break 38-33. The 3rd quarter is where the game changed in a big time way, the Village Christian pressure defense forced turnovers early and often which led to easy buckets for the Knights. Once the Knights made their run in the 3rd quarter they never looked back and took home the win 83-64.
Village Christian Junior Guard Travion McCray: Led all scorers with 28 points, he can knock down the deep ball and is what we call a ‘‘bouncy’’ athlete. He plays the game with a lot of confidence and intensity, he will be a player that his team will look to for a high level of production in the state tournament.
Village Christian Senior Guard Junub Char: You can see him getting back to his old ways with how he plays the game, he has a nice natural feel and IQ to make plays. He finished with 15 points on the day but started the first quarter off hot with 9 points in that quarter alone, he also had one of the top dunks of the day that will turn some heads on social media.
Northwood Temple Junior Guard Josh Nickelberry: Josh got it going early for his squad, knocking down some shots that were heavily contested. Throughout this matchup he faced all types of: defensive matchups, heckling from fans and so on, regardless he had a solid showing finishing with 19 points. We can see him growing as he has taken on a leadership role for this Northwood Temple squad that only features one senior.
Northwood Temple Junior Wing Brandon Franklin: This game was one of the better games that we saw Franklin play, he shot the deep ball at a higher percentage and even came up with a dunk in traffic in the 2nd half. The next step for him is to play the game at the pace that he is comfortable with and stay confident throughout all 32 minutes.
Village Christian Junior Wing Khuath Gatkouth: The deep ball wasn’t falling for him in this matchup but he stayed locked in and found other ways to score the ball. One thing you have to love about his mentality is that although he is a wing player, he doesn’t mind banging inside with bigs.
Northwood Temple Sophomore Guard Jay Hickman: In the first half he was among the leading scorers on his squad with 8 points. He scored but also made some really good plays for others, the next step for him is consistently being able to keep up that same caliber of play throughout the game.
Northwood Temple Senior Forward Ian Steere: Due to the fact that he was hampered with foul trouble pretty much throughout the entire game, he never seemed to get into a rhythm. However he still had some good moments and would finish with 16 points on the night.
Village Christian Junior Center Derrick Quansha: One thing that can’t be taught is height, and that’s exactly he brings to the table wherever he goes. He blocks shots at a high rate and rebounds the ball well while getting the ball out to a guard quickly, his improvement over the years has been solid and is one to keep an eye on.