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Watson pours in 29 points, Carrollton wins Waverly Holiday Tourney opener over Springfield Lutheran

Dec 27, 2016 9:06 AM

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CARROLLTON - Round 1 of the Waverly Holiday Tournament worked out the same way as it did 365 days ago with a win for the Carrollton Hawks. They defeated Springfield Lutheran Crusaders 56-49 on Monday afternoon, and Jeremy Watson led the way with 29 points.

“It’s been nice being able to score so much, and it’s always nice to be able to get a win like this and have that many points too,” Watson said. “They had some great defensive plays as well, but I was finding ways to score.”

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Watson has accumulated two games in which he’s scored over 30 points, and he was one free throw in the final minute of play shy of notching his third on the young season.

Watson did more than enough for the Hawks, but overall, they feel it could’ve been much better on their end.

“We found a way to win today, even though it wasn’t our best game by any means,” Jerrett Smith said. “In this tournament, the best team doesn’t always win. It’s the team that can find ways to win.”

Lutheran was balanced on offense.

The six-foot-seven-inch senior center Jacob Pfeiffer led the Crusaders with 11 points. Sophomore guard Hank Hayer followed up with. Stephawn Taylor had eight points, and Sidney Squires added six.

It was a game where both teams struggled to knock down layups, and free throws, which the Hawks tend to do well, and Smith was the first to say he wasn’t on his game.

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“I didn’t feel like I was focusing on my finishes and it showed. I missed a lot, and it’s tough to finish up and over a 6-7 kid,” Smith said.

“Offensively we weren’t as good as we had been. Our field goal and free throw percentages were both pretty dismal,” Carrollton head coach Jeff Krumwiede said. “I told them if you play a good defensive game you’ve got a good chance of staying in it and the truth is Lutheran didn’t shoot well either.”

The Hawks made it the charity stripe 28 times, but only connected on 12 shots. The Crusaders were 10-for-21.

The Hawks led for the whole game, and Watson found his shooting touch early by connecting on triples in the first quarter to spearhead his team forward, but Lutheran stayed around the entire and trailed 17-13 after the first quarter. The Hawks biggest lead of the game was 10 points, and Watson got scoring help from Brendan Settles, who tallied four points in the quarter.

Carrollton led 26-19 at halftime. However Lutheran quickly cut the deficit to one within two minutes, but after a timeout, the Hawks regained themselves and went on a 12-4 run to get lead up to nine, including two three-pointers by Jayce Arnett and forward Matthew Campbell. Campbell would finish with eight points. In the final minute, Lutheran, led by Hayer’s eight points in the quarter, charged back to get within three at 41-38 going into the final frame.

The Hawks regained themselves once again and went on a 12-6 run to go up by nine points once again and held off the Crusaders by knocking down enough free throws and playing strong defense.

“Regardless of the offensive woes, which is the first time this year we have that, we were able to overcome,” Krumwiede said. It’s a nice win on the first day.”

Carrollton improves to 5-1 and advances to the quarterfinals and face the Routt Rockets today at 1:30 pm.

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