Zach Bell skies high for Grovetown Monday. |
Grovetown left Augusta Christian Monday with a 92-57 win after starting the game with a 39-16 run, and ending it with a 40-8 spurt, the latter propelled by senior guard Julius Brown’s 18 fourth quarter points, part of his game high 31.
Led by freshman Elijah Crawford’s team high 25 points, Augusta Christian made a run of its own, cutting Grovetown’s once 23 point lead to 52-49 with less than 1 minute remaining in the third quarter after Jeremiah Tolbert knocked down a baseline jumper. But Brown scored 21 points in the remaining 8 minutes and change, and the Warriors suffocated the home team’s offense, holding the Lions to only 5 points in the final quarter.
Brown began the final quarter with a three pointer only 8 seconds into the fourth that put Grovetown ahead 61-52. The lead stretched to 20 with 5:11 left on another three pointer by Brown, a shot that was set up by a beautiful dribble move, shown in the first clip below, when Brown went hard left, stopped on a dime, and whipped the ball behind his back, freezing the defender and rising up for the trifecta in one seamless motion.
Julius Brown scored 31 points to lead Grovetown to a 92-57 road win over Augusta Christian. Soon we’ll bring you more coverage from this game which included several explosive plays and scoring spurts. pic.twitter.com/p9oMWqjDKB
— AugBball (@AugBball) December 15, 2020
Senior Zach Bell, who scored 21 points two days after dropping 30 to lead the Warriors to a 71-67 win over Walnut Grove at Archer High, left his unique stamp all over Monday’s game. A two-handed finish of a first quarter alley-oop (shown in freeze frame at the top of the screen) set the tone for an evening of wonder from the area’s most exciting player.
“This (Bell’s finish) was insane in person! Lob was super high!!” That’s what Grovetown head coach Darren Douglas tweeted after the game after seeing on Twitter (directly below) what he witnessed in person from the sidelines.
Grovetown 9 Augusta Christian 4
— AugBball (@AugBball) December 14, 2020
4:07 1st quarter
Video: (Grovetown) #5 Zach Bell goes up high for the slam. pic.twitter.com/1vsNz7KAtS
Later in the first period Bell topped his earlier dunk with a fully extended, one-handed windmill before pointing at the camera to make sure it was captured on film.
Grovetown 19, Augusta Christian 9
— AugBball (@AugBball) December 14, 2020
1:00 1st quarter
Video: (Grovetown) #5 Zach Bell windmills on the break and let’s Augbball know he’s in the building! pic.twitter.com/ksAI7BXoof
Bell’s third attempt to do something we won't see anywhere else within driving distance of here came in the fourth quarter when, after picking the freshman Crawford clean near the three point line, Bell attempted his second windmill of the night… only this time he threw it between his legs as he rose into the air! Bell’s attempt came up short, as if he were only trying to prove he is human after all. After AC retrieved Bell’s miss, Crawford knocked down a jumper on the other end to momentarily halt Grovetown’s momentum.
Grovetown 61, Augusta Christian 54
— AugBball (@AugBball) December 15, 2020
6:48 4th quarter
Video: (Grovetown) #5 Zach Bells try’s to pull off an amazing finish on one end. (Augusta Christian) #24 Elijah Crawford hits a jumper over two defenders. pic.twitter.com/M7FKgHoTYA
“I really think Crawford is a player,” Grovetown’s second year head coach said in a text after the game. “Some freshman habits, but there’s a lot of good in his game.”
Douglas was even more pleased with the teamwork displayed by his Warriors:
“I was really pleased with our ball movement tonight,” Douglas said of a trend that picked up steam in Saturday’s win over Walnut Grove. “We passed it really well. We’re very hard to defend if we move it and make shots.”
Grovetown improved to 4-1 for the season while Augusta Christian fell to 2-7. Both teams are back in action Saturday. Grovetown will head for Marietta to face Collins Hill in the first round of the Lemon Street Classic. Augusta Christian travels to Greenbrier.
Grovetown 26 17 15 34 - 92
Augusta Christian 13 15 24 5 - 57
Grovetown - Malik Ferguson 2 2-4 6, Dj Douglas 1 0-0 2, Jaye Gant 3 2-4 8, Julius Brown 10 5-7 31, Zach Bell 10 1-1 21, Markel Freeman 4 2-4 10, Jose Rodriguez 4 1-2 9, Derrion Reid 1 0-0 2, Jaden Cobb 1 1-2 3.Totals: 36 14-24 92.
Augusta Christian - Johnny O'keefe 3 2-2 9, Tray Moseley 1 0-0 2, Avery Evans 3 0-0 8, Elijah Crawford 10 4-4 25, Cam Slade 2 0-0 6, Jeremiah Tolbert 1 0-0 2, Luke Wilson 1 0-0 2, Jacob Thigpen 1 1-1 3. Totals: 22 7-7 57.
Three-point goals - Grovetown: 6 (Brown 6). Augusta Christian: 6 (O'keefe, Evans 2, Crawford, Slade 2).