Sammy Smith leads Sherwood Christian boys to victory

ALBANY — Sherwood Christian hopped on the back of Sammy Smith on Thursday night and rode him to victory.

Not literally of course.

But Smith dropped 34 points against Fullington Academy en route to a 62-51 home victory.

The Eagles opened the game with a 22-point first quarter and allowed the Trojans to score just six points to open the game.

“It was a great game,” Sherwood coach Chad Payn said. “We did some great things. One of our big goals was to rebound, we made some shots and we played tough defense. We wanted to come out and have a 10-0 in the very beginning, we had an 8-1 run and made them call timeout.”

Fullington eventually got back in the game and was down 33-20 at the half.

The Trojans worked the lead back down to five points midway through the fourth quarter, but Smith put them away almost single-handedly. The guard scored 16 of the Eagles final 20 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter alone.

“He is amazing,” Payn said. “What he has is basketball IQ. He knows when to drive, when to pass and when to handle it. He is able to handle the ball and he is able to make free throws.”

Smith made 10 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter, which helped push Sherwood to victory.

“He is very important just like all the players on the team are important,” Payn said. “Sammy plays one part of it and each one has their one part to the team.”

Sherwood also received a 14-point game from Joshua Kendrick. He hit four 3-pointers in the game before fouling out.

Fullington was led by Sam Evans who finished with 15.

Fullington girls 39, Sherwood 28

The Lady Eagles struggled to get going early in the game and trailed 16-2 at the end of the first quarter.

The next three quarters were much better for Sherwood as they outscored the Lady Trojans in all three but couldn’t overcome the sluggish start.

“I saw more heart and more hustle and that was definitely what we were asking them for in the locker room,” Sherwood coach Rebecca Fyock said. “We have had a hard week with a lot of games, so I was glad to see they still put it out there and finished well.”

Fullington’s Lauren McIntyre led the game in scoring with 15 points.

Sherwood was led by Mollie Kate McClearn who finished the game with 13.

The loss makes Sherwood 6-5.