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By Nolan Imsande

ALBANY — The styles of the Deerfield-Windsor guards Trey Young and Chandler Matthews could not be more different.

But when the two play as well as they did Wednesday night, they make the Knights a tough team to beat.

Young, a slasher, who gets the majority of his points by driving to the basket, scored 27 points while Matthews, a deadly sharp-shooter, dropped 24 in the Knights’ 83-61 victory over Trinity Christian-Sharpsburg in the first round of the Georgia Independent Schools Association Class AAA state tournament.

“I thought we played awfully good tonight,” Deerfield-Windsor coach Gordy Gruhl said. “We got off to a really quick start. Chandler (Matthews) got us started quick. Trey Young was really unbelievable tonight.”

DWS came out of the gate on fire, jumping to a quick 9-0 lead that forced Trinity Christian to call a timeout.

The Knights lived behind the 3-point line in the first quarter. Matthews nailed his first four threes while Emmanuel Baez did his part with two treys.

“It was good,” Matthews said. “It was a fun game to play in. We came out firing and hitting on all cylinders. The crowd was amazing. It was just a fantastic game to play in.”

The little bit of offense that Trinity Christian did get in the first came from Dominic Reed. He scored all 11 of his team’s points to ensure that they were down only 25-11 at the end of the first.

Trinity Christian’s offense got going in the second quarter. The Lions went on a 12-4 run to open the quarter and eventually cut it down to a five-point game.

But Matthews gave his team a much needed three with just over a minute left in the half to extend the lead to 38-30.

With under one second left in the first half, Tyler Lowe was fouled on a 3-point attempt. He hit all three free throws to give DWS a 41-32 lead.

Deerfield’s offense once again got going to open the second half. The Knights went on a 21-7 run that was keyed by Young. The senior scored 11 points in the third quarter, including a layup that gave Deerfield-Windsor a 25-point lead.

“We really picked up our defense at the start of the third,” Gruhl said. “We were able to stretch the lead and then hang on.”

The fourth quarter was routine as the Knights coasted to a big victory.

Deerfield also received a 10-point night from Baez.

Trinity Christian was led by Reed who scored 18. Matt Grady and Julian Warner also dropped 13 points.

Deerfield-Windsor will face Westfield in the second round of the tournament at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.