Deerfield-Windsor surges past Valwood

ALBANY — It was only fitting that the Deerfield-Windsor boys basketball team received a boost from its seniors on a night meant to honor them.

The Knights had three score in double digits Friday night to lift them to a 61-49 victory over Valwood at Gruhl Court.

With the victory, the Knights clinched first in Georgia Independent Schools Association Region 3-AAA. The victory earned them a bye in the early rounds of the region tournament, and the Knights will head straight to the semifinals.

Deerfield-Windsor struggled to open the game, trailing 11-10 before scoring four unanswered points to end the first quarter.

Tyler Lowe, a senior, gave the Knights a much-needed boost early. The senior made a driving layup as time expired in the first quarter. He followed it up with a 3-pointer to open the second. The senior added five more points in the quarter, including a late 3.

“The seniors have meant a lot to us,” Deerfield-Windsor coach Gordy Gruhl said. “They’ve played together, and they are good friends with each other. They are just a real pleasure to coach, all five of them.”

The Knights’ defense improved in the second quarter as they allowed just eight points. They outscored Valwood 17-8 and led 32-19 at halftime.

Senior Ethan Shelllhaas scored nine of the Knights’ 19 points in the third quarter. He finished as the team’s leading scorer with 17.

Trey Young paced Deerfield’s offense throughout the game. The senior scored at least three points in every quarter and finished with 16.

The five seniors — Young, Lowe, Shellhaas, Chandler Matthews and Whit Turner — scored 56 of Deerfield’s 61 points.

By the time the fourth quarter started, Deerfield-Windsor was up by 20.

“I thought we were very active on the defensive end,” Gruhl said. “We got a lot of steals. We got hurt on the boards early in the ball game, but we started doing a good job later in the game.”

The Knights have two games in the regular season remaining, both on the road. They face Southland on Tuesday and finish with Tiftarea next Friday.

Valwood’s Cam Walker finished as the game’s leading scorer with 20 points.

Valwood girls 44, Deerfield-Windsor 43

The Lady Knights battled to the very end, hitting a basket with under three seconds left in the game. Deerfield-Windsor was out of timeouts and did not have enough time to foul.

The loss means Deerfield-Windsor likely will have to win both games to host in the region playoffs.

“You’ve got to make your layups,” DWS coach Jeff Eubanks said. “We missed two free throws late, and we missed layups early. We had trouble boxing out. The game doesn’t come easy if you can’t make easy baskets.”

It took some time for both teams to get on the board with Valwood hitting the first basket with 3:48 left in the opening quarter.

The Lady Valiants outscored Deerfield 10-6 in the first quarter.

After falling behind 14-6, the Lady Knights went on a 14-2 run to enter halftime with a 20-16 lead. Patsy Cartee opened the scoring in the third with a trey to give Deerfield a 23-16 lead.

Valwood received back-to-back threes by Ashley Manwell and Meredith McLendon to cut the score to 29-28.

The Lady Valiants led briefly before Deerfield scored a couple of baskets to get a 35-31 lead at the end of three.

Valwood tied the game at 38 before the Lady Knights went up 41-40. A layup by Emily Johnson sealed the deal at 44 points. Johnson finished with 14 points while McLendon had 11.

Deerfield was led by Emilee Foy who had 13.