The University boys pulled off a stunner Thursday night defeating previously undefeated Covenant Christian 60-57. The Trailblazers scored the last eight points of the game to take down the Class 2A No. 7 Warriors in a battle of Sectional 42 rivals.
Trailing 57-52 with 2:18 remaining, the Trailblazers were patient on offense and Larry Pierce found Matt Jones for a three pointer with 1:21 left to pull University within two. Mitchell Martin came up with a steal on the defensive end with 57 seconds remaining. After a Blazers timeout, Pierce drove the lane and kicked it out to Jones for the three pointer that put University ahead with 29 seconds left.
Pierce rebounded a missed Covenant Christian free throw on the front end of a one-and-one with 23 seconds remaining. Covenant Christian had to foul twice to put the Blazers on the line and Pierce went to the charity stripe with 10.4 seconds remaining and calmly knocked down a pair of foul shots for a 60-57 lead.
University guarded the three-point line and an off balance three pointer was rebounded by University freshman Sabien Cain with two seconds left. Cain was tied up for a jump ball with 0.1 seconds remaining, but the Warriors were unable to get off another shot.
Pierce had a monster game for the Trailblazers with 24 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while committing only a single turnover. Martin had 13 points and Jones had 11.
Camden Brown, University’s leading scorer, had just two points as battled foul trouble throughout the game before fouling out with 3:15 remaining and the score tied at 52. Brown logged just 11 minutes, but the Trailblazers outscored the Warriors by 10 points while Brown was on the floor, with the 6-7 senior dishing out four assists. Junior Nate Jeffrey provided huge minutes off the bench in relief of Brown, dishing out five assists.
University raced to a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Pierce had two baskets at the rim and Jones and Cain hit three pointers. Covenant Christian crawled back in the game with full court pressure and eventually took a 18-17 on a basket with 16 seconds left in the quarter. Pierce had eight points in the first.
The Warriors led throughout the second quarter and had a six-point lead at halftime, 34-28. University shot 57 percent in the first half, but turned the ball over 11 times and missed all four free throws they took. The Blazers could have been down more, but Covenant Christian was only 5 of 13 at the line.
Brown got the first basket of the third quarter, but Covenant Christian’s Trey Flatt converted an old fashioned three-point play for the Warriors largest lead of the night at 37-30. Flatt, who had 52 points in a win over Lawrenceburg last week and was averaging 21.9 points per game ended with just the three points.
Martin scored three straight baskets to cut the lead to 37-36. The Warriors answered with a three-point play before Brown went to the bench with his fourth foul on an illegal screen call. Pierce hit a pair of free throws before Cain tied the game at 40 off an assist from Kacey Ash-Simpson. Pierce hit a basket from the key to tie it again and Jones added a basket as University trailed 45-44 after three quarters.
Jeffrey fed Martin for an easy basket 45 seconds in to the fourth quarter to give University their first lead of the second half at 46-45. The Warriors added a three pointer and a foul shot to lead 49-46 with 5:52 left. Brown kicked the ball out to Pierce for a game tying three pointer.
After a Covenant Christian basket put the Warriors back in front, Martin threw a pass from the left corner to Pierce at the rim who made the basket and was fouled. Pierce’s free throw with 3:39 left put University back in front 52-51 with 3:49 left.
Trailblazers coach Brandon Lafferman was ecstatic with his team’s performance. “I felt like our guys really executed our game plan for four quarters. We struggled with some turnover in the second quarter, but really handled their pressure well throughout the second half. We also did a good job on Flatt, who I believe is one of the better seniors in the state.” After turning the ball over 11 times in the first half, University had just six second half turnovers.
“I thought Nate Jeffery and Kasey Ash-Simpson delivered some quality minutes for us with our leader Camden Brown on the bench in foul trouble. Cain, Martin, Jones and Pierce played their tails off and really led us to the victory by playing together and making great decisions throughout the fourth quarter. We have been preaching all week that it was test time for our group and I’m incredibly proud of how we fought,” Lafferman continued. “I feel like we really grew up tonight, however now we have to prepare to play again against Tindley, who is an incredibly tough and battle tested squad. Hats off to Covenant Christian for a fantastic start to the season. They are well coached, play as hard as anyone I’ve seen our schedule and they really brought out the best in us.”
The Trailblazers led for just 1:26 after the first quarter and are now 7-3 on the season. Covenant Christian, the reigning Sectional 42 champion, is 8-1.
University is back action tonight at The U Center, hosting Class 1A No. 11 Indianapolis Tindley.
UNIVERSITY 60, COVENANT CHRISTIAN 57
University FG FT TP PF
Kasey Ash-Simpson 1-1 0-1 2 2
Nate Jeffrey 0-0 0-0 0 1
Sabien Cain 3-6 0-0 8 3
Matt Jones 4-7 0-0 11 1
Larry Pierce 9-13 5-5 24 2
Camden Brown 1-3 0-0 2 5
Seth Hogg 0-0 0-0 0 0
Mitchell Martin 6-11 0-2 13 3
Totals 24-41 5-8 60 17
Score by Quarters
Covenant 18 16 11 12 – 57
University 17 11 16 16 – 60
University 3-point shooting (7-14) Jones 3-4, Cain 2-3, Martin 1-6, Pierce 1-1.
University rebounds (22) Pierce 8, Ash-Simpson 3, Jeffrey 3, Cain 2, Brown 2, Martin 2, Jones 1, team 1.