Christian Fellowship (5-3) overcame a 9-point deficit in the second quarter to beat Dresden, Tenn. 66-60 to win the CCA Warrior Christmas Tournament.
“The third quarter was big for us”, Head Coach Tyler Ryan said. “We scored 30 points and they scored 15 and that was actually the only quarter we outscored them. What’s been hurting us lately is slow starts to the game and we have to rely on the third quarter or the fourth quarter to make up ground. We’ve got to learn to start strong so we don’t have to dig ourselves out of a hole.”
CFS led 7-2 to start the game, all seven points from junior Andrew Dunning. Dunning scored all 13 of the Eagles first quarter points and with his 12th on a 3-pointer, earned his 1,000th career point. CFS trailed 15-13 to start the second quarter.
Down 21-15, Isaac Hovekamp was the first CFS player to score other than Dunning and it was the start of a team-leading 28-point night.
“Isaac Hovekamp, our senior who made All-Tournament Team, has been doing a really good job of getting us to calm down, getting us set up in something”, Ryan said. “When we have the lead, I tell them let’s run the clock as much as we can. We have an offense we run that does that and makes the defense work, it wears them down and we can get layups out of it if we just run it.”
Dresden led 27-21 at halftime, unaware of the 30 points the Eagles would drop on them in the third quarter behind 16 from Hovekamp, to lead 51-42.
With 15 seconds remaining, Dresden cut the CFS lead down to four points before Hovekamp dropped in two free throws to close out the 6-point win and tournament championship.
Dunning finished with 23 points and nine rebounds, earning tournament MVP honors.
CFS opened the tournament on a 59-54 win over CCA on Friday. They beat Hickman County 59-44 on Monday to earn a spot in Tuesday’s title game.
CFS 13 6 30 15 – 66
Dresden 15 12 15 18 – 60
CFS: Isaac Hovekamp 28, Andrew Dunning 23, Luke Grigg 8, Elijah Grigg 7
CFS: FG 24/49, 3 PT 5/15, FT 13/15, REB 20
CCA Warrior Christmas Tournament stats
Dec. 17 – CFS 59, CCA 54
CFS 13 15 16 15 – 59
CCA 19 15 14 6 – 54
CFS: Luke Grigg 15, Elijah Grigg 15, Andrew Dunning 13, Isaac Hovekamp 10, Bryce Cary 6
CCA: #34 23 Jamison Smith 13, Prince Kahnplaye 8, Ty Wilson 7
CFS: FG 18/45, 3 PT (E. Grigg 3), 9/27, FT 14/18 (Hovekamp 6/8, L. Grigg 5/7), REB 20
CCA: FG 21/51, 3 PT 4/16, FT 8/8, REB 32
Dec. 20 – CFS 59, Hickman County 44
CFS 16 7 14 22 – 59
Hickman 11 11 12 10 – 44
CFS: Elijah Grigg 21, Isaac Hovekamp 13, Luke Grigg 11, Andrew Dunning 10, Carter Space 2, Austin Burnes 2
CFS: FG 24/52, 3 PT 4/17 (E. Grigg 4), FT 7/17(L. Grigg 3/4), REB 31 (Dunning 7, L. Grigg 7)
CFS traveled to Calloway County on Saturday for a rescheduled game against the Lakers that was originally set to be played on Dec. 10. Calloway won 80-58 with five players in double-figures. Isaac Hovekamp led the Eagles with 22 points.
CFS 11 10 23 14 – 58
Calloway 21 24 17 18 – 80
CCA: Isaac Hovekamp 22, Andrew Dunning 13, Luke Grigg 11, Bryce Cary 5, Elijah Grigg 5, Carter Space 2
Calloway: Jonah Butler 16, Eli Finley 15, Conner Lockhart 13, Zach Hudgin 13, Matthew Ray 10, Drew Hudgin 8, Stephen Lane 2, Aidan Clinton 2, Kanyon Franklin 1
CCA: FG 23/58, 3 PT 3/20, FT 9/12 (Hovekamp 6/6), REB 17
Calloway: FG 29/60, 3 PT 10/30 (Butler 4), FT 12/15 (Finley 4/4), REB 38
