Heritage 65 GRACE Christian 49
Don’t tell anyone that GRACE Christian and Heritage was playing in the consolation game of the Kyran Bowman bracket at the John Wall Holiday Invitational. Both teams played inspired basketball and if you didn’t know any better, you would have thought a state championship was on the line. Credit goes to head coach Tiden Brill of Heritage and DeShannon Morris of GRACE Christian.
After both teams exchanged leads multiple times, GRACE Christian took a 25-24 lead into the half. They went 12-of-23 from the floor for 52 percent but committed 12 turnovers. 7’0 Wake Forest Jaylon Gibson had a big first half with 11 points, seven rebounds, one assist, two blocked shots and one steal. For Heritage, they went 10-of-28 from the floor for 35.7 percent but only committed four turnovers. 6’6 Lucas Taylor had 10 points, going 4-of-9 from the floor including 2-of-4 from the 3-point line. In addition, Taylor had one assist and two steals.
Heritage erupted for 41 points in the second half to secure a 65-49 win. Playing flawlessly at times, the junior duos of Taylor and 6’7 Redford Dunton finished with 28 and 14 points respectively. Taylor went 10-of-19 from the floor, 4-of-7 from the 3-point line and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. In addition, Taylor dished out four assists and even had two steals. For GRACE Christian, Gibson had a team-high 18 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks, two assists, and even one steal. Promising 6’9 junior Keeyan Itejere tallied 17 points and five rebounds. For the game, Heritage only committed six turnovers while their defense created 17 turnovers for GRACE Christian.