WEBB CITY, Mo. — The College Heights Christian Cougars turned a 6-4 lead in the first quarter into a 30-8 lead halfway through the second behind a 24-4 stretch and College Heights never trailed during a 53-26 win Saturday afternoon against Liberal in the opening game of the 4-States Challenge at the Cardinal Dome.
“We made some adjustments,” College Heights coach Eric Johnson over the background sounds of Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life” between games. “We got some steals off our press, and we got some layups. I don’t think we hit a three all night, but we didn’t have to with the ball on the inside. We came out second half and had a good third quarter.
“They played back-to-back too. They played Lamar last night. You’ve got to learn now because maybe at districts later on, you’ll have back-to-backs. We came out with a lot of energy at both ends.”
College Heights, after Saturday’s impressive win and Friday’s 61-48 win over Diamond, improved to 7-2 overall this season and the Cougars do not return to action until Jan. 3 on the road against Bronaugh.
Six-foot-five senior Curtis Davenport and 6-4 junior Caleb Quade have been a formidable duo on the inside for the Cougars all season, and Saturday proved to be no different.
Davenport and Quade combined for nine points during the Cougars’ decisive 17-0 run that saw the score go from 13-8 to 30-8 in nearly four minutes.
Davenport finished with a game-high 17 points and his seven points in the third helped College Heights enter the fourth with a 48-18 lead.
Quade scored all 12 of his points in the first half with seven of them in the first quarter.
Nine players entered the scoring column Saturday for College Heights — Bo Sitton added eight points, Steven Calandro scored all five of his points in the fourth, Liam Nelson contributed four points and his pressure defense helped produce multiple easy scoring opportunities, the trio of Jayce Walker, Logan Decker and Ben Thomas each added two points, and Noah Hipple netted a free throw for his lone point.
