The University Trailblazers battled back from a slow start at Covenant Christian, but could not finish the job as they dropped a 55-49 decision Friday night.
Covenant Christian raced to a 16-6 lead in the first five minutes of the game behind four old fashioned three point plays and led 16-9 after the first quarter. University rallied to take a brief 21-20 lead midway through the second and went to the locker room down 25-22.
Trailing 34-30 midway through the second, David Howard hit a pair of three pointers to give the Trailblazers a 36-34, however the Warriors scored the last four points of the quarter to lead 38-36.
University never trailed by more than five during the fourth quarter, but could never take the lead. Emerson Halbleib kept things close by scoring University’s first six points of the quarter before Ethan Sickels’ three pointer from the top of the key with 2:18 remaining knotted the score at 45. The Warriors added their sixth “and one” of the game to take the lead 48-45 with 1:47 left. Josh Alford pulled University within 48-47 with 1:02 remaining and Zach Hodgin made a pair of free throws with 30 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 50-49.
The key of the play was made when Covenant Christian scored off a missed free throw with 23 second remaining for a 52-49 lead. After a missed University three pointer, the Warriors made three of four free throws to close out the scoring.
Halbleib led University with 16 points. Sickels had 11 and Howard had 10 points and 8 rebounds.
University falls to 10-8 on the season. The Trailblazers will host Indianapolis Crispus Attucks at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the championship game of the Pionner Academic Athletic Conference. University won the PAAC North at 4-0 while Crispus Attucks won the PAAC South. The teams met in late December at the Vincennes Holiday Classic with the Tigers scoring an easy 66-37 win. The Trailblazers will look to turn the tables on their home court against the ninth ranked team in 3A.
Covenant Christian 55, University 49
University FG FT TP PF
Emerson Halbleib 6-9 4-4 16 0
Ethan Sickels 4-5 0-0 11 3
David Howard 4-8 0-0 10 2
Foster Flamion 2-4 0-0 4 1
Josh Alford 2-6 0-0 4 4
Zach Hodgin 0-0 2-4 2 4
Josh Watson 0-5 2-4 2 3
Kaden Edwards 0-0 0-0 0 0
Tyler Wott 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 18-37 8-10 49 17
Score by Quarters
University 16 6 14 13 – 49
CCHS 19 6 13 17 – 55
University 3-point shooting (5-17) Sickels 3-4, Howard 2-5, Watson 0-5, Alford 0-2, Flamion 0-1.
University rebounds (22) Howard 8, Hodgin 3, Halbleib 3, Watson 3, Alford 3, Flamion 2.