Tars Take District Opener in Third Quarter Swing

There’s nothing like a timely 3-pointer and a steal-dunk combination within a minute of each other to get your blood pumping and your team fired up.

That’s just what did in the third quarter last night, taking a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the game. This was their first step in the district tournament, winning the opener against L’Anse Creuse North 59-43.

The Tars outscored L’Anse Creuse North 17-4 in the third quarter and it turned out to be the difference in the game. Anchor Bay came out of the halftime locker room, went on a 13-point run and held the Crusaders scoreless until 44 seconds left in the quarter.

“To have that big run and put pressure on them to score was big for us in the third,” Anchor Bay coach Todd Green said.

Anchor Bay senior Evan Miller shot the timely 3-pointer after rushing the same shot earlier in the game.

“This time I just took my time, set my feet and let it go,” said Miller.  “I knew it was good and it sparked everything.”

The steal-dunk was compliments of Anchor Bay junior Anthony Smith.

“We’ve played together as a team for a long time,” Anchor Bay senior standout Taiwan Jones said.  “Whenever somebody gets a dunk we automatically go on a run from there and try to get as many dunks as possible.  Everyone just pitches in and we have a good game.” 

Jones was on fire himself and was the Tars high scorer with 20 points and 16 rebounds, 14 of those points coming in the first half.

L’Anse Creuse North started the game strong and lead 28-27 at halftime with ten points coming from senior Khial Watson.

“We only had four points in the third quarter and that’s been our nemesis,” L’Anse Creuse coach Jay Seletsky said.  “We are a good defensive team, top five in the county, but we’ve been really inconsistent all year long and that was our problem tonight.  We had a good first half but then we came out and couldn’t score in the second half.  Also, getting into foul trouble early hurt us.”

High scorer for the Crusaders was Watson with 10 points.

“We kind of kept in them in the game in the first half by giving up too many offensive rebounds,” said Green.  “I think it was at least 10 points on put-backs.  It was our goal to out rebound them in the second half and I think we did that defensively.” 

Tars senior Branden Padgett contributed 13 points to the victory.

When asked what the halftime speech and motivation was, Jones simply stated, “For me it was that this could be the last moment of our lives playing basketball together.  We didn’t want to end it tonight.”