colony defense stops Crusaders

MAT-SU — If Tuesday night's freshman basketball scrimmage between the Colony Knights and the Valley Crusaders is any indication of times to come, other Valley teams should prepare for the worst.

The Knights's C-team trounced the Valley Crusaders 57-12 to remain undefeated on the season. Every player on the Knights's deep ninth-grade bench scored at least two points against the Crusaders's home-schooled basketball team.

"The [Crusaders] are a good group of guys," Knights coach Tom Berg said. "They had a hard time with our pressure."

Point guard Cody Huggins led the Knights to a nearly perfect first quarter, with nifty inside passing and tenacious half-court defense as Colony shut down all Crusader scorers. Huggins tallied four points in the first quarter as the Knights established a 12-0 lead.

The Crusaders were finally able to capitalize on their tough inside game when Matt Muth and Erik Olson connected buckets to get the Crusaders on the board, but they were unable to match the play of the Knights's Marshal Joynt, who drained a pair of three-point scores and kept the Crusaders's defense from collapsing down and defending the key.

"Marshal is a kid that definitely shoots the ball well for our program," Berg said. "I have 13 or 14 guys that can all play well."

Down 28-7 at half time, the Crusaders continued to work their inside game and had no problem passing the ball to Olson and Josiah Alexander, but they could not finish the easy shots underneath. Knights Matt Moffitt and Joe Merrill gathered up the Crusaders's missed rebounds and converted on the fast break.

"We didn't play well tonight," Valley Crusaders assistant coach Josh Michael said. "Half the team didn't make practice yesterday. [Olson] seems to have stepped up his play. He did a pretty good job defending Moffitt. Our guys can usually pull down some threes."

Knights defenders backed off the full-court press in the fourth quarter after building a 43-9 lead, but solid man-to-man coverage led to three easy layups off steals by Jesse Thornock and Anton Zagars. The Knights allowed only one Crusader field goal in the second half, culling any comeback opportunities for the Crusaders.

Joynt and Josh Moseley led the Knights with eight points each while Dave Gray added six. Erik Olson, who was recovering from the flu, was the top scorer for the Crusaders, with six points.

The Knights are 8-0 this season, including a five-point win at Bartlett after being down 18 points.

"I love my group of guys," Berg said. "It's an easy team to coach. They make me look good most nights and I am very happy with the progress they've been making."