Warrior Classic: Emmanuel Christian
Emmanuel Christian hosted their 22nd annual “Warrior Classic” this year at Lourdes University. It featured the #2 team in the State (Division IV), Emmanuel Christian as well as Waite High School, Ottawa Hills, and Whiteford High School (MI). Opening night…
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Continue ReadingEmmanuel Christian hosted their 22nd annual “Warrior Classic” this year at Lourdes University. It featured the #2 team in the State (Division IV), Emmanuel Christian as well as Waite High School, Ottawa Hills, and Whiteford High School (MI). Opening night saw a well-coached Ottawa Hills ’Green Bears’ team just execute with precision as they defeated Waite 59-21. The Green Bears were effective with their half court style and made the Waite High School ’Indians’ work on the defensive end, while limiting the Indians offense with suffocating defense.
In the nightcap, it was Emmanuel Christian ’Warriors’ vs Whiteford ’Bobcats’. Although most people knew very little about Whiteford before the game, they would soon find out that this team was very well prepared, well-coached and their players played like they belonged after a shaky first quarter start.
Emmanuel jump out to a double digit lead, only to have the Bobcats go on a furious run to take a 11-point lead in the 4th quarter. Enter Jerry Easter II, he took the 4th quarter over and willed his team to a 72-70 OT victory on his way to a 41 point,10 rebound, 6 steal performance. The Whiteford team is to be applauded, they brought in a great crowd and played with tremendous poise and confidence, they shot the ball very well and had a chance to pull off a huge upset. Whiteford went on the defeat Waite 54-48 in the consolation game, and capture third-place in the Warrior Classic.
The Championship game would feature rivals from the TAAC Conference, Ottawa Hill came in pretty confident after a four point loss earlier to the Warriors this season. This was a game of contrasting styles, Ottawa Hills wanted to play at a slower pace, while the Warriors wanted to get out and run. The Green Bears forced the Warriors to play at their pace in the first half as the score was tied at 19 a piece at halftime.
The second half started with the Warriors ramping up the pressure and forcing some early turnovers for easy buckets to put them up by five early in the 3rd period. As the game progressed the Warriors lead by as many as 10 points and the Green Bears could never seem to get the advantage. Emmanuel’s two stars, Easter, scoring 15 points and Houston, scoring 16 points had their way in the second half capped the game off with an exclamation dunk by Houston. The Green Bears were led by Miller, the talented freshman who had 11, and George who tossed in 11 as well. Congratulations to Jerry Easter (Tourney MVP) and Nate Houston Nate Houston 5'11" | PG Emmanuel Christian | 2022 OH for making the All-Tournament team. The loss dropped the Green Bears to 6-2 on the season, while the Warriors move to 9-1.