MORGANTOWN — The drama that is the Trinity Christian boys’ basketball team continued Friday night as the Warriors turned a two-point halftime deficit into a 24-point win to cap off a girls/boys doubleheader sweep of visiting Notre Dame.
“For some reason at halftime we like being down,” joked Trinity boys coach Codey Horton. “We always like to say to get everyone’s popcorn ready because we’ll put on a show.”
Trinity’s girls rolled to a 63-14 win in the opener and the boys followed with a dramatic 66-42 come-from-behind win.
It’s the boys’ third straight win to open the season and the third time they’ve had to come from behind.
“This is where we thought we would be,” Horton said. “We thought the scores would be a little bit different but we’ll take any win whether it’s one point or 20.”
Powering the Warriors on Friday was sophomore Chayce Adams, who scored a game-high 32 points with seven 3-pointers including buzzer-beaters to end the first and third quarters.
“My teammates were finding me and I was just draining shots,” Adams said. “That second (buzzer-beater) was pure luck if I’m being honest. Carter (Hartsock) found me and I was just in motion I guess.”
Trinity led 16-8 after the first quarter, but then let the Irish (0-5) open the second on a 12-point run that led to a 28-26 halftime deficit. In the locker room, Horton reminded the team what their goals are this season and what it will take to achieve them.
“I was just being really real with them about our goals and our expectations,” Horton said. “We’re not just here to win games, we’re not here just to have fun, our goals are to get to Charleston and we’ve got to do a lot better than the first half in order to make it there.”
An Adams three early in the third quarter put Trinity up 32-28 and the team never looked back. The Warriors came out of halftime on a 16-5 run. While Adams was supplying plenty of offense, he said it was the other facets of the game that really turned the tide.
“We played defense, we got offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds and we just broke the press and it was wide-open layups,” he said. “Coach gave us a talk and we just had to be more disciplined and talk on defense. Once we started talking on defense we started getting stops.”
The Irish had no answer for Adams throughout the game as he would routinely come down the floor, catch a quick pass and hit a jumper.
“It’s my type of game, run and gun,” Adams said. “We all can run and when I get the ball and I’m hot, it’s just the best feeling in the world.”
“Today he was the example of a leader and that’s what the team needed,” Horton added. “That’s why we won, he definitely stepped up, obviously offensively, but defensively he was playing really good help side and just all of the place.”
Trinity led 48-38 entering the fourth quarter and scored the final 10 points of the game for the 66-42 triumph.
After Adams’ 32, Carter Hartsock supplied 15 points and Aaron White had five.
Connor Sandrath led ND with 18 and Ajai Woofton scored eight.
Trinity will take its spotless 3-0 record to a two-day tournament at Doddridge County to open next week. The Warriors will play Liberty Harrison on Monday and either Wood County or Doddridge on Tuesday.
“Last year we didn’t have a good record but this year we’re coming back stronger,” Adams said.
The Trinity girls rolled in the opener, defeating the Irish 63-14. The Warriors (3-3) started the game on a 24-1 run where ND’s only point came on a technical foul that TC coach Mike Baldy called on himself for not having his roster right.
Sophomore center Abigail Fisher led the team with a career night, scoring 20 points and pulling down 10 rebounds for her first double-double. She was supported by 18 points from Jenna Barnett and 16 from Sucora Brown.
“That’s her first career double-double, it’s her career-high scoring, I’m really excited about her individual play,” Baldy said of Fisher. “Sucora’s individual play was good too and Jenna led us well, as she has all season.”
The Warriors scored 30 straight points during one stretch that spanned the second and third quarters.
Emily Besten led Notre Dame (0-5) with 11 points with a pair of three-pointers.
Trinity’s girls will play one more time before the new year, next Thursday at Gilmer County.
Girls
Trinity 63, Notre Dame 14
ND 7 4 3 0 — 14
TC 26 18 17 2 — 63
ND — Besten 4 1-2 11; Shaffer 1 0-2 3; Fryer 0 0-2 0.
TC — Barnett 8 0-1 18; Brown 8 0-0 16; Fisher 10 0-0 20; Lynch 1 0-0 3; Burrell 2 0-0 4; Turner 1 0-0 2.
3 Pt. Goals — Notre Dame 3 (Besten 2, Shaffer 1). Trinity 3 (Barnett 2, Lynch 1).
Boys
Trinity 66, Notre Dame 42
ND 8 20 10 4 — 42
TC 16 10 22 18 — 66
ND — Sandrath 6 6-9 18; Heslop 2 0-0 6; Woofter 3 0-0 8; Urso 1 1-2 4; Suter 1 1-2 3; Moodispaw 1 0-1 3.
TC — Lohman 1 1-2 3; Hancox 1 0-0 3; Hartsock 6 3-6 15; 10 5-7 32; L. Kinska 1 0-0 3; White 2 1-3 5; Hardin 2 0-0 4; M. Kinska 0 1-2 1.
TWEET @CodyNespor
