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Saturday Night Live: Patriots nip Foothillers

Christian's PATRICK ROBERTS goes up with a shot Saturday night against Grossmont. / EastCountySports.com photo

2016-17 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL

 

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

 

EL CAJON (1-29-17) — NaSHOM CARTER pumped in 25 points, including a pair of three throws with 7.6 seconds left, to lead Christian to a 58-56 non-league victory over visiting Grossmont late Saturday night (Jan. 28) at Ryan Athletic Center.

 

DOMANIC SAFARTA pitched in 5 treys to finish with 17 points for the Patriots.

Grossmont’s AUSTIN ODOM goes up for a shot against Christian and JACKSON LARSON (21) Saturday night. / photo by Ramon Scott

“It was a close game the whole way,” said Patriots assistant coach TIM BROWN. “We took the lead 53-52 and our guys closed it out in the final minutes. NaShom Carter shot 2 free throws that ended up winning the game.”

 

DAMAGEAE GANT paced the Foothillers with 17 points, while HUNTER MULDER tossed in 15 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.

 

Gant had 10 points in the first half, including a pair of three-pointers,

 

HUNTER GAINES pitched in 13 points and 6 rebounds, and AUSTIN ODOM added 10. Gaines had nine first-half points.

 

Gant drove the baseline for a layup off the glass to pull the Foothillers to within 17-16 in the second quarter.

Minutes later, JACKSON LARSEN scored with two seconds left before halftime to give the Patriots a 26-23 lead at intermission.

Safarta nailed his third three of the game two and a half minutes into the second half. Moments later, Safarta stutter-stepped during his dribble then shuffled a nifty pass to JACK MASON for a cutting lay-in.

Carter finished the third with a penetration drive, which drew contact from Gaines, and set him to the line for a three-point conversion that gave Christian a 44-39 lead with 0.4 seconds left in the period.

Grossmont battled back and eventually took a late lead on a transition basket by Mulder on a bounce pass from JAMIE ODOM, giving the Hillers a 53-52 lead with 2:50 left in the game.

After the Patriots went back up by three, Austin Odom hit a step-back three to tie the game 56-all with 26 seconds remaining in the game.

As Christian was running a set for a possible last-second shot, the Foothillers played aggressively, committing a foul on Carter way out near the mid-court line with 7.6 seconds left.

 

Carter sank the decisive free throws and Grossmont’s last attempt was off.

Christian:  NaShom Carter 25 (3 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl), Domanic Safarta 17 (2 ast, 2 stl), Daniel Welch 6 (7 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk), Jackson Larsen 4 (4 reb, 1 ast), Patrick Roberts 4 (2 reb), Jack Mason 2 (1 reb).

Grossmont:  Damageae Gant 17 (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Hunter Mulder 15 (6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Hunter Gaines 13 (6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Austin Odom 10 (2 reb), Franklin Golojuch 1, Jamie Odom (1 ast).

 

TAFT 74, FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 58 – The Knights suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since Dec. ’14.

Taft jumped out to a 17-9 after one, then extended the lead to 38-22 at halftime.

The Knights pulled to within 45-32 with 4:40 left in the third quarter, but Taft surged again for 56-37 at the end of three.

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