By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– For the second-straight season, after winning the Green Bracket last year, the Amity Boys Basketball team have brought home a Crusader Classic Title following their 60-51 victory over rival Dayton on Saturday afternoon.
Leading 28-26 at halftime, the Warriors were able to extend their lead. By the start of the fourth quarter, they led 46-37 on the Pirates and were able to use that momentum into the fourth quarter for their fourth-straight victory amd going back into PacWest Conference play 5-4 on the year.
“We rebounded tha ball a lot better. They had a lot of offensive rebounds in the first half that led to a lot of second half points. We took that away and forced them to one shot, that led us to get out and run and get easy points,” said Carter Haarsma , who led the Warriors with 18 points. “We got three wins against good teams that we just played and I think we’re figuring out how to win. We can go into league confident in ourselves that we will do well.”
For Dayton, they enter league 3-7, but the Crusader Classic tournament proved to be a good foundation layer for them going into league play.
They picked up two wins, closing out games and conteding in another Saturday as they’ll look to continue this trajectory into PacWest Conference play.
“Our effort level is up. Everyone wants to play hard and give 100-percent and I think that’s was the reason we’re staying with these teams and getting some wins,” said Dayton’s Tanner Gentry, who led the Pirates with 21 points.
Dayton heads to Santiam Christian on Monday while Amity will be at Salem Academy on Monday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
