12/3/07

Garden City Classic at Augusta Prep
by Aaron Nix

This weekend, the Knights traveled to Augusta Prep for the annual Garden City Classic. The tournament offered some amazing competition from around the state. Augusta Prep, Westminster, and Westminster Christian being some of the targets on the Knights' hit list. The Knights played Westminster Christian first.

Westminster Christian Academy, a Missouri private school college, was the first of the opposition. The Knights played an awesome game flooding with team chemistry. Junior PG Bo Wright scored over 16 points, accumulating 9 assists as well. Of the 78 points, the Knights scored 40 of them were off of fastbreak plays. Dominion's super sophomore, Gerald Williams, scored 12 points off of the bench. The big men played big as well. Junior Michael Hannah and Senior Josh Williams held 18 rebounds between them. The Knights scored an awesome 52-17 points in the first half. The game ended in a 78-51 win over the WCA sending the Knights into the semifinals.

It was the second night of the Garden City Classic and the Knights were in the main event. The stage was set for a Dominion Christian-Augusta Prep matchup and it was showtime in every sense of the word. Coming into the game, the oh-so innovative Coach Gold drew up a special defense to lock up the AP superstar, Jim Hull. As the game went on, the Knights were in a bind, being down by 8 at halftime. What was even more spectacular was that Coach Gold never even called a timeout the entire half, allowing his team to play through adverisity. In the second half, things were different. The Knights ponied up 50 points in the second half to go up by 17 and win the game 71-54.

Saturday was the big game and the lights were on bright. The Knights had made it to the finals. From tip-off, the Knights received the ball- a pass to Bo Wright- the pass to Atalla- and the pass back to Bo- a drive and a score! The Knights put on the press. While Westminster was breaking it, the Knights folded back into the press. This game proved a lot more difficult than anticipated. Team leadership brought the Knights to a tie at halftime. In the second half, the Knights struck with a vengeance. Good defense allowed for only six points for Westminster. In the fourth quarter, the Knights played hard. Sophomore Gerald Williams went on a 6-0 run with two straight three-pointers. The Knights were up by 6 with two minutes left in the fourth. After a questionable call by the referree, the Knights lost the ball, giving the opportunity for a hungry Westminster to drop a 3- bomb with a minute left of play. The Knights were down by 3, forced to foul to stop the clock. With an unfortunate possession for the Knights, Westminster went on a fastbreak, scoring and receiving a chance for a three-point play the old-fashioned way. He shoots... He scores. The Knights receive the ball and are fouled. Zach Meyer shoots... he misses. Westminster receives the ball, Dominion fouls again. Westminster scored both buckets. With the barrage of fouls and foul shots, the Knights- unfortunately the Knights were 44% and Westminster was better. The Knights had acquired runner-up in the 49-53 heartbreaker.

In the end, two Knights were offered accolades. Sophomore Gerald Williams and Junior Bo Wright received All- Tournament titles. Not a bad road trip at all for Dominion Christian.