Big Road Win

Saturday the Flight boys traveled down I-85 to Lafayette for a rematch with the tough Sound Doctrine Academy. The Jayvees had lost a close game in Atlanta, but came into the game playing well. On a down note, Conner had arrived at the Friday afternoon practice on crutches, and his status for the game was uncertain. The game started without big man Josh, so things didn’t look good for Flight.

Sound Doctrine started off by feeding the ball inside to their superior big men, but most all of their close shots failed to fall. This allowed Flight to stake an early 13 – 2 lead. Then Sound Doctrine hit four straight three-pointers, including three by the little guard nicknamed Peanut. The quarter ended with Sound Doctrine leading 17 – 15.

The second quarter proved to be the crucial period of the game. Sound Doctrine’s shooting went even colder, as they only scored three the whole quarter. They also fell deeper into foul trouble, led by their Shaq look-alike center.

Meanwhile Flight’s offense continued to run well, as well as grab their share of rebounds against another taller opponent. DJ added four first-half assists, and finished with five, to go with his game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Flight led 32 – 20 at the half, holding a comfortable lead most of the second quarter. Josh arrived late and took over for Holt, crashing the boards and adding an assist of his own. Max also saw extended PT in the second, grabbing a rebound and assist.

Sound Doctrine was not able to make much headway in the third quarter. Holt had a nice blocked shot. Will played several minutes and grabbed two rebounds, and also made a nice strong baseline pass inside to Josh early in the fourth quarter. DJ and Conner ran the offense and worked minutes off the clock. Conner showed no effects from his hurt ankle, and scored 19 points, to go with 4 rebounds and a steal. The third quarter ended with the score 39 – 29, an eight point Flight lead.

The big Sound Doctrine center committed his fourth foul, and was pulled from the game so they could employ a full-court press. In the fourth quarter Flight had less and less success breaking the press, but Sound Doctrine continued to foul. DJ himself foulded out with 52 seconds remaining, with the game still on the line. Flight had struggled all year shooting foul shots, but made enough down the stretch to hold on to the lead. Josh and Kevin made key foul shots, and Conner especially found his stroke at the line. Flight won a satisfying victory, winning 53 – 44.

Josh played the second and fourth quarters and had 5 points, 10 rebounds, and an assist and steal. Hold played inside the entire first and third quarters, scoring a basket and grabbing 3 boards and 4 steals. Kevin also played big inside, scoring 3 points and adding 5 boards, despite giving up lots in size.

Jonathan started and scored two points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 2 steals. Isaac played contributed as well. Only Joel didn’t get in the game.