By Ben Sheridan / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
One quarter proved to be the difference maker for Trinity Episcopal Saturday against St. Anne’s-Belfield’s boys in the Prep League title game, boosting the Titans to a 64-54 victory over the Saints.
The first quarter was very back-and-forth, with neither team being able to get the upper hand. Carter Lang was able to provide a big lift for the Saints in the quarter, where he put up eight of his 17 total points. Meanwhile for the Titans, Erik Prosise scored eight points in the quarter, and finished the night with 11. Both offenses were practically able to match each other, which led to a 14-13 score at the end of the quarter, with the Titans in front.
In the second quarter things started to shift. The Titans got locked in on defense, allowing the Saints to score just seven points in the quarter.
“The second quarter, they went into a zone for like three minutes, and we didn’t handle it very well, we started to take some bad shots and they were able to get run outs and push it to 8 or 10 and it pretty much stayed there,” said STAB coach Damin Altizer.
The defensive performance allowed the Titans to get a bunch of quality looks. AJ Williams led them with six of his 13 points coming in the quarter. Then a huge Henry Coleman dunk led the Titans to a 31-20 halftime lead. Coleman ended up with a big performance, as the Duke commit led the Titans with 24 points.
In the third quarter, the lead for the Titans grew to 39-27 before the Saints began to fight back, going on a 7-0 run to close the gap. Justin Taylor played a huge part in Saints’ surge, scoring nine of his 14 total points in the third. However, Coleman stepped up in a big way for his team, putting up 8 points in the quarter and helping the Titans grow their lead again, taking a 47-37 advantage into the final frame.
The game didn’t get much closer than that, as Trinity continued to do what they needed to do to close out the win. The Saints continued to fight back, with the offense led by John St. Germain scoring five of his 10 total points down the stretch. It wasn’t enough, as the Titans continued to make plays with a block and two foul shots from Coleman making it a 62-52 game with 30 seconds left to really put the game away. Once the final buzzer sounded, the Titans were the Prep League tournament champions.
After the game, Coleman was named Prep League Player of the Year, joining teammates Williams and Burke Smith on the All-Prep League Team. The Saints were represented by Lang, Taylor, and Malachi Poindexter.
While the Saints did drop this game, their season is not over, as they look toward competing in the VISAA D1 state tournament next week.
“The school record for wins is 20, and we’re at 19, so we told the guys that there’s a lot to be proud of, but to use tonight as motivation for one last run to next week,” said Altizer.
