Trinity Christian Basketball traveled to South Orange Park on Thanksgiving Friday to battle the Panthers of Class 5A Ridgeview High School. Despite stellar performances from several Conquerors and terrific late comeback efforts from both the junior varsity and varsity, however, Ridgeview held on in both contests in what turned into a pair of barnburners.
VARSITY: Ridgeview 73, Trinity 56
Miles Brooks led the Conquerors with 20 points and finished third overall in total scoring. The senior helped the Conquerors reduce a 19-point early-fourth-quarter deficit down to seven with a 10-point period. Brooks sank five field goals in the frame, but Trinity could not pull any closer as Ridgeview (1-2) also got a big finish from Moses Bulungu, who scored 11 in the period and took over on both offense and rebounding to hold off Trinity’s comeback effort.
Travis King finished with 16 points, including 10 in the second quarter. King converted four consecutive free throws and drained a long three in the period. Donavan Paris spread 9 points evenly throughout the game, and Xavier Cobb contributed 6 in the first half. Evan Wilson‘s three-pointer just before halftime pulled Trinity back to within 10 at 41-31 after Ridgeview built a 13-point lead, and Colton Warren added a deuce. Trinity was 13 for 23 at the line as the two teams combined for 45 fouls and 65 free throws. Ridgeview hit 21 of 42 attempts with Landon Hawkins converting 8 of 15.
Trinity twice cut huge deficits down to seven, but the Panthers defense fought off the surges. Bulungo finished with 23 points by scoring 17 in the second half, and senior Augustine Kingombe had a gigantic 13-point second quarter to propel him to the game-high total of 24. Hawkins had 15 overall while Roger Anderson and Derek Torrence each finished with three, Gage Click and Jermaine Walker each contributed two, and Alex Cubey had a free throw.
JV: Ridgeview 42, Trinity 38
Trinity’s
Jacqari Sineus led the court with 15
points with 13 of them coming in the second half, which included an 8-point
third quarter that brought the Conquerors back from a double-digit deficit. The
Conquerors found themselves down 30-20 late in the third before Sineus took
over and helped his team surge to a 10-2 run that made the score 32-30 Panthers
by quarter’s end.
The
Conquerors eventually took the lead at 36-34 in the fourth but could not hold
off the Panthers. After Ridgeview’s Tajh
Brown tied the score at 36-all, the Panthers’ defense made several stops
and pulled in crucial rebounds. Grant
Weiskircher hit the go-ahead basket with 2:13 left to put Ridgeview ahead
40-38, and Nick Gallego gave
Ridgeview an insurance basket with 44 seconds on the clock.
Tomarion McCray scored 7 for the Conquerors. L.J. Kelly and R.J. Albury each had 6, and Josh
Robinson and Tre Goggins had 2
points apiece.
Brown
finished with Ridgeview’s team-high total of 12, and Gallego followed with 8. A.J. Bridges scored 6 while Weiskircher
had 5, Jordan Pocharasang added 4, Pierson Alexander contributed 3, and Amari Hall and Mikey Spikes each scored 2.
Next Up: ( Varsity) The Panthers were defeated by(1-1) Menendez 74-61 on December 3. They face Baker County (1-0) on December 6th with a home game versus Creekside(1-0) on Thursday, December 5. Meanwhile, Trinity has played three tough competitors this week beginning with a home loss against Mandarin on Monday 65-38. The Conquerors then lost to (2-0) Bolles 72-27 on Tuesday. Trinity (0-5) will look to get their first win of the season against Episcopal(2-1) tonight.
Edits by Senior Writer : Andre’ Ellis
