In the 2nd round of the PAISSA Boys Basketball Playoffs, Academy of the New Church edged out the George School 52-50 in an overtime thriller. The game was a defensive battle and a back-and-forth affair. The George school got out to a 16-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Academy of the New Church came back to tie it, 22-22, heading into the half.
Academy of the New Church’s Anthony McCall played very well, finishing the game with 17 points and scoring 15 of the team’s 22 points in the first half, but fouled out in the 2nd half. Elmarko Jackson, who scored 23 points and led the charge in the 2nd half, spoke on how the team adjusted coming out of the half.
“We were trying to limit their 2nd chance points and their offensive rebounds from Onyekachi [Nzeh], he’s a dominant force in the paint so we were trying to limit that, and obviously their lead guard Christian Bliss, a very good guard. Also, their key shooters, #5, Dante [Weiss], #4 [Kyle Anderson] and their all-around offense.
As for the George School, Onyekachi Nzeh had a great game and was difficult to stop, scoring 23 points on the day, 10 of which coming from the charity stripe. The rest of the team struggled to find consistent offense and shot opportunities from the outside. Academy of the New Church’s 2nd half defense deserves much credit for this, as they played spectacular as a unit and helped them earn the victory.
The game went to OT, tied at 44, and Elmarko Jackson hit the go-ahead bucket with 6 seconds left, and the team locked down on the defensive end in the final seconds and did not allow Dante Weiss to get a shot off before the buzzer sounded, resulting in a close, but well-deserved victory for Academy of the New Church. In round 3, they hit the road to take on #1 Seed Westtown on Friday, March 4th, at 7:30 PM.
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