HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL : Christian Shakes Off Hoover in 4th Quarter

Good things come to those who decide they’ve waited long enough.

And so it was with the Christian High boys’ basketball team Thursday night in the first round of the Aztec Highland Tournament at Montgomery.

Christian shook off the complacency of the first three quarters, finished big and walked away with a 59-49 victory over Hoover.

“We ended like we wanted to start,” said senior forward David Piester, who led the Patriots with 22 points and 11 rebounds. “We started to play with more intensity in the fourth. We didn’t put it all together until then. We still were a little off all night.”

Coach Randy Wright attributed the sluggishness to Christian’s 12-day layoff.

“We were dragging our feet and not working hard,” Wright said. “But whenever you’re off that long, it’s going to make a difference.”

After Christian took a 15-6 lead after the first quarter, Hoover got its perimeter game going, and outscored the Patriots 19-16 in the second, and 17-12 in the third.

Christian’s shooting was hit and miss throughout, and as it missed in the third, Mike Martin of Hoover was hitting.

Martin scored 10 of his game-high 26 points in that eight-minute span, including two baseline three-pointers. The second came with 1:14 left, pulling the Cardinals to within 41-40. In its fleeting moment of glory, Hoover took a 42-41 lead when Damien Mills scored a layup.

Thirty seconds later, Vinnie Clark put Christian back in front, 43-42 going into the fourth, on a short jumper from the left side.

“We did a poor job of closing Martin out (in the third),” Wright said. “Then they didn’t score four minutes into the fourth.”

Indeed. And that was at 3:49, on a free throw. Hoover, which was outscored 16-7 in the fourth, didn’t get a basket until Martin scored with 3:13 left.

Christian, the defending Division V state runner-up, improved its record to 10-2, with its only losses coming against Bishop’s and Greenfield (Ariz.). Hoover fell to 3-5.

Although Christian lost only four players from last year’s team, as Tony Clark (Vinnie’s brother) departed, so did the paparazzi , and the mainstay of scoring.

But Piester said there is more balance this year, and more threats off the bench then last year, and the goal is to go back to the state playoffs and grab the title that just eluded the Patriots last year.

“We have the confidence and the chemistry,” said Piester. “I think we have the potential to be a really good team.”