Deerfield-Windsor boys roll into state finals

MACON — The Deerfield-Windsor Knights faced Loganville Christian in the GISA AAA state finals two years ago and lost.

They erased that painful memory Friday night as they beat the Lions 61-48 in the GISA Class AAA state semifinals at Mercer University’s Hawkins Arena. They will face Gatewood in the state championship game tonight at 7 p.m. The Gators defeated Griffin Christian 71-56 in the other semifinal game.

Trey Young scored eight of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter to help secure the victory for the Knights.

“I thought Trey played a great ball game throughout,” Deerfield-Windsor coach Gordy Gruhl said. “He handled the ball, put pressure on their defense, got in the lane, finished in the lane. I thought he was just outstanding the whole night.”

Tyler Lowe was also in double figures for the Knights with 12 points.

The Knights jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the game thanks to baskets by Christian Wallace, Austin Fallaw and Ryan Toole. Ryan Forrest got the Lions on the board when he was fouled, hitting both free throws.

The Knights continued to force turnovers, increasing their lead to 10-4. Young then scored four straight points to put the Knights up 14-4 but the Lions went on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to five. Deerfield-Windsor continued to pressure the Lions’ backcourt and forcing turnovers. They finished a solid first quarter up 24-10 as Lowe hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Loganville Christian continued to struggle against the Knights’ defense in the second quarter. Deerfield-Windsor also shot the ball well from the outside as Toole and Lowe each hit 3-pointers to put the Knights up 32-16 with 2:38 left in the half. Each team traded baskets for the rest of the period and Deerfield-Windsor enjoyed a 37-22 lead at halftime.

However, the Lions woke up. Loganville Christian went on a 9-2 run to start the second half, spear-headed by K.J. Chambers, who scored six of those points. Chambers struck again, converting a 3-point play with 3:58 to go in the third quarter to cut the Knights’ lead to 40-33.

It was a back-and-forth battle for the rest of the third, and the Knights maintained a 48-37 lead starting the fourth quarter.

The Lions cut the Knights lead to nine to start the fourth quarter on another basket from Chambers but the Knights were able to get the lead back up to double digits before the Loganville Christian’s Daven Hall nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to nine.

However, that would be as close as the Lions would get.

Chambers led Loganville Christian (23-4) with 13 points.

Gruhl knows that Gatewood will be their toughest test all year.

“They’ve got a great team,” he said. “They look like a team that doesn’t have any weaknesses. We’ll have to play our best tomorrow night in order to have a chance to win, but that’s what a state championship game is supposed to be all about.”