Flight Beats Arch Rival

Will’s Flight JV team overcame a first quarter deficit to beat arch-rival Crown 45 – 37 last night, before a packed crowd in the cramped Crown gymnasium. The JV boys won after the JV girls blew out the Crown JV, and then the Flight Varsity girls and boys led throughout their games to finish the sweep.

The starting lineups were introduced on the PA before the game, so it was the first time Will got to run out like that. He ran down the opening tip, grabbed 3 rebounds and a steal, and got off 2 shots. The coach continues to insert Will to provide more defense in key stretches of the game. Crown had a shooter make several early three-pointers, but Will came back in and stayed close, and the guy scarcely made a basket the rest of the way. On defense Will also forced a jump ball.

The parking lot was already full when I arrived late in the JV girl’s game. With the benches on one side of the court, there was only room for 2 rows of folding chairs on the other, where the parents sat. The younger Crown students congregated on the stage at the far end of the court, in front of several Christmas trees. Older Crown students and some parents stood on one side of the balcony overlooking the court. The large crowd of Living Science students filled the other side of the balcony, cheering relentlessly with their faces painted, giving Flight a home-court advantage in the Crown gym.

Thanks to several 3-pointers, Crown led 13 – 9 after the first quarter, but surged ahead, leading 22 – 18 at the half. Flight extended their lead in the 3rd-quarter to 37 – 29. DJ was having a good game shooting and rebounding, but he continued to feed the ball to Connor in the corner for a three or a drive to the basket. In the fourth quarter DJ and Connor slowed down the game, actually running the 4-corners offense.

…DJ scored 17 points, going 4 – 7 on 3-pointers. He had 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 7 steals.
…Connor led all scorers with 24 points. He was 2 – 4 from 3-point-land, and added 8 from the foul line.
…Seven of Holt’s 11 rebounds came in the first quarter.
…Isaac only made one free throw and had 3 boards, but again played a key role with his ball-handling and on defense.
…Josh scored a basket and had 5 rebounds to go with a steal and a block.
…Jonathan, Joel, and Max didn’t play much.