The Heritage Christian Academy boys’ basketball team closed the show with a strong fourth quarter to claim a 76-64 victory over visiting Clarksville Christian School on Thursday night. The Warriors earn their third-straight win to move to 9-2 on the year.
A 3-pointer midway through the first quarter by the Warriors’ Josh Jones gave them an 8-4 advantage. Clarksville Christian tied the game at 8, but after 2 free throws and a layup by Dalton Folz, the Warriors led 14-8. With :47 left in the quarter, Austin Crawford knocked down a 3 to give HCA a 17-12 advantage.
The Centurions outscored the Warriors 17-15 in the second quarter, fueled by 6 and 5 points, respectively, by brothers Austen and Ethan Bowles. Clarksville Christian took its first lead at 22-21 with just under 6 minutes left in the first half, but 4-straight points and an assist from Folz to Dakota Brake pushed the score back to 32-26. A 3-pointer with :15 left by Luke Oland pulled the Centurions back to within 3 at halftime.
After the break, the Warriors took their first double-digit lead at 44-34 on a 3-point play by Jones. An Austen Bowles layup with less than a minute left in the third trimmed the HCA lead to 5, and the Warriors were up 55-50 wit the fourth quarter to play.
Clarksville Christian scored first in the fourth to trail by a basket, but the Warriors responded with a 10-2 run capped by a Brake bucket off of one of Gavin Fowler’s 12 assists. The Centurions fouled down the stretch, but Fowler hit 4 of 6 free throws to help seal the victory.
Mills and Folz both finished with 18 for HCA, with Folz also pulling down 16 rebounds. Brake had 11 in the second half on his way to 17 for the game, followed by Jones with 12.
For Clarksville Christian, Ethan Bowles poured in 15 in the second half for a game-high 24, followed by Austen’s 23.