Jamari Briggs ’24 made a break for the basket and Keenan Wilkins ’24, always astute, pushed ahead a bounce pass.
A windmill dunk sent the student section into a tizzy and occurred during a good stretch Tuesday for Christ School varsity basketball. There were some not-so good stretches, too, and the Greenies were taking it all in stride as they’re now as healthy as they’ve been in over a month.
Jamari poured in a game-high 19 points, followed by Bryson Cokley ’24 with 16 points, and Emanuel Richards ’23 with 12 in a 66-43 home win over Asheville Christian Academy that keeps Christ School (24-2, 4-1) tied for first place in the Carolinas Athletic Association.
“We missed some shots tonight, even cupcakes right at the front of the rim. But we guarded well and that’s been our M.O.,” Christ School coach Josh Coley said.
“As we’re getting more and more healthy, some of our best defenders are returning. We’ll get better. Shots will fall, we’ll get some reps in, and see if we can build on it.”
Lleyton Thomas-Johnson ’24 (five points) returned to the Greenies’ lineup for the first time since December and Emanuel started for the first time since being injured at ACA (a 60-41 win on Jan. 5). To their credit, the Lions (5-18, 1-4) hung around for the better part of three quarters, just as they did in the previous meeting. But the Greenies still kept pulling away and led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter.
The rest of the scorers for Christ School were T.J. Hamilton ’24 (four points), Anthony Robinson ’23 (three), Keenan (three), Jo Ahart ’25 (two), and Matthew Pethel ’23 (two).
JV Greenies 58, Asheville Christian Academy 28
A tie game after one quarter proved to be just another blowout for Christ School’s 14-1 JV team.
Sophomores Will Sherrill ‘25 (15 points) and Jimmy Jones ‘25 (12) led the way and about every other Greenie got into the scorebook: Brewer Nitcher ‘25 (nine points), Blue Simmons ‘25 (seven), Henry Chapman ‘25 (five), Brody Ballard ‘25 (four), Buck Duggins ‘25 (three), Calvin Williams ’24 (two), and Hayes Hewett ‘25 (one).
The score was 9-9 at the end of the first quarter and Christ School was only ahead by six points at the half, 24-18.
The next games for the JV and varsity are Friday at Asheville School, starting at 4:30 p.m. and 6.