Village Christian Clinches Alpha Title

The last time Alpha League rivals Village Christian and L.A. Baptist highs met, the Crusaders cruised to a 19-point victory.

Neither team was cruising Tuesday night, however, in a league rematch at Canyon High. But although L.A. Baptist dominated inside and maintained the lead for the better part of the game, the result was the same: a Village Christian victory.

Mike Spielman’s free throw with 14 seconds remaining proved to be the difference and lifted Village Christian to a 44-43 victory.

With the victory, Village Christian (15-8), the defending league champion, clinched the championship outright with one game remaining, improving to 6-1 in league play. L.A. Baptist (14-7, 4-3) is still in contention for a playoff berth.

L.A. Baptist had a chance to win in the final seconds after Spielman’s free throw, but Jeff Baumsteiger’s 30-foot shot from beyond the top of the key missed everything.

“We felt like we could have gotten a better shot there at the end,” L.A. Baptist Coach Maury Neville said. “We wanted to try to get it in to one of the big kids, but Jeff said he couldn’t see them.”

Those big kids, as Neville calls them, kept the Knights in the driver’s seat nearly the entire game.

On the strength of Kevin Aust (10 rebounds) and Nathan Wendt (eight rebounds), the Knights dominated inside, outrebounding Village Christian 33-19.

But the Knights couldn’t slow Village Christian’s David Gustafson (15 points) and Chad Hanson (13 points), who took control in the final minutes.

The score was tied 12 times, including four occasions in the fourth quarter. Baumsteiger tied it, 43-43, on a pair of free throws with 1:32 to play.

The Crusaders spread the court and Gustafson and Hanson took turns driving until they found a weakness in the Knights’ man-to-man defense. Hanson passed to Spielman, who was fouled by Aust with 14 seconds to play.