Homecoming Game
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 10:44AM Homecoming is sweet to King’s Boys hoops downs Grace,
byTAMMY SHOWALTER, Staff writer
After a win from Grace Christian’s girls basketball team, the boys of The King’s Christian Academy in Callaway displayed drive and tenacity as they came out aggressive, attacking the basket to capture a homecoming victory in white-out style on Saturday night.
The game ended the same way it started with Tyreek Murray scoring on a fast break to put the crowd on its feet.
In the last 20 seconds of regulation, Murray the team-high scorer with 22 points stole the ball at halfcourt and finished with a running layup to the roars of his home crowd. King’s won over their cross-county rival 51-41 and improved to 6-5 overall.
According to King’s head coach Robert Lloyd, Murray is taking on a leadership role and he, Demonta Butler and Cale Benefield were difference makers in the game, defending Grace explosive guard Percy Roberson.
“We had to take him [Roberson] out of the equation,” Lloyd said. “He’s a quick guard. Caleb did a nice job defending him and it got him frustrated.”
Murray and his new friend Roberson were discussing the game during the week, but once they took the court, it was all business.
“We’re new Facebook friends. We were talking about the game all week. It’s always fun at homecoming games with the support of the crowd,” Murray said. “We wanted this win bad. We’re a smaller team, but we’re going to run on you. We get out on the fast breaks. I think we got him [Roberson] out of his game in the second half. We need to work on boxing out more and our shot selection. It was to our advantage that they were kind of tired from a long week. I have a lot of pride in my team. We couldn’t have done it without the whole entire team.”
Murray’s moves were fine-tuned Saturday night and Roberson couldn’t seem to find his groove, but Grace junior Khari Dickson was a man of his word, hitting his signature three-pointers. He tallied three in the contest.
Because of Dickson, Lloyd was not comfortable with an 11-point lead after the third quarter, knowing Dickson needed more protection on the wing.
“No, the 11-point lead wasn’t comfortable for me,” Lloyd said. “We left their guard [Dickson] wide open and he got hot. I wasn’t real comfortable until the last minute of the game.”
Butler led King’s in rebounds with nine. Kevin Graham’s quick instincts earned him seven steals.
“I think I had a lot of nerves coming in,” Graham said. “Once I started and I heard the crowd, my head wasn’t actually in the game. In the fourth quarter when I hit those back-to-back shots, that’s when my nerves started going away. I think overall in practice we knew what our roles were going to be. I think all of us stepped up.”
King’s will play at Yeshiva at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, a team it defeated 67-51 on Dec. 10. Butler was not part of the lineup at the last matchup and Lloyd said that Butler’s aggressive defense and rebounding will be an added bonus for this matchup.
Grace (5-12) was scheduled to play at Lanham Christian on Tuesday evening, which ended too late for inclusion into this edition and will next play in a home boys, girls doubleheader with Calverton. The girls play at 6 p.m. followed by the boys at 7:30 p.m.
Grace head coach Paul Tarry was not available for comment by press time.
