Deerfield boys, girls win home openers

ALBANY — When things were good Tuesday night in the home opener for Deerfield-Windsor, they were very, very good.

And when they were bad … well, they weren’t really all that bad.

Four Deerfield-Windsor starters scored in double figures en route to a 66-44 win against Mount de Sales Tuesday night.

Michael Matthews led DWS (3-0) with 13 points, Jordan Alexander added 12 and Shaun Jones and Reggie Brown each chipped in 11.

Mount de Sales, which was unbeaten at 3-0 coming into the game, was led with nine points each from Brandon Sartin and Josh Abrams.

DWS held a 13-10 lead at the end of the first period, but then turned on the jets as Brown scored six points during a 20-7 run that saw the Knights build a 33-17 advantage at the half.

Deerfield did not let up in the third period, as Banks Kinslow hit back-to-back three-pointers to push the Knights’ lead to 30 points, 54-24, with nearly three minutes left in the quarter. With 3:28 to go in the game, the visiting Cavaliers never got closer than 17 points the rest of the way.

But coach Gordy Gruhl wasn’t ready to crown his guys just yet.

“We’ve yet to play four good quarters this year,” Gruhl said. “Our second and third quarters were very, very good., (but) we lost some focus in the fourth when they cut that 30-point lead to under 20. That was disappointing.”

The Knights beat the Cavaliers by taking advantage of a deep and experienced bench. DWS, however, had some problems when forced into running a set offense.

“When we’re running, we’re pretty good,” Gruhl said. “We have to work on our halfcourt game. That’s not very good right now. But I thought we played a very good game defensively. When our defense is good, our offense is good.

“We can definitely build on this.”

Deerfield will visit Tattnall Square Friday and Central Fellowship on Saturday, while Mount de Sales travels to Westfield on Thursday.

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DEERFIELD GIRLS 45, MOUNT DE SALES 34:

Morgan Phillips and Lauren Fullford scored 11 points each as the Lady Knights broke open a close game with a six-point run early in the fourth quarter.

DWS (4-2) clung to an 8-7 lead at the end of the first period before spurting to a 20-13 advantage at the half.

Mount de Sales, sparked by six third quarter points from Liza Harrington, cut the gap to 28-24 heading into the final period. The Lady Cavaliers further pared the margin to two points, 28-26, before Phillips hit two buckets and Fullford added another to push DWS’ lead to 34-26 with 5:18 remaining.

The visitors from Macon never got closer than seven points the rest of the night. Deerfield’s 11-point margin of victory was their largest lead of the evening.

Harrington led Mount de Sales (3-3) with 21 points.