Arts & Sciences recently completed a sixth consecutive undefeated run through the District 5-A regular season, but the Patriots entered Saturday night with a district tournament championship streak of zero.
Last year’s Patriots were upset by Grace Academy in the 5-A final, but history did not repeat as CSAS cruised to a 58-43 triumph over the Golden Eagles on its home floor. When asked if he used last season’s loss to Grace as motivation this time around, veteran CSAS coach Mark Dragoo said “about a hundred times.”
“That sounds about right,” Patriots guard Malik Dodds said. “They came in here and beat us on our home floor last year, and we didn’t want that to happen again. We came out with a lot of intensity in the first half and did what we had to do. Our defense created our offense.”
Grace Academy briefly assembled a rerun when a Stephen Record 3-pointer and a Clayton McMasters putback helped the Eagles stake a 7-4 lead. Then a slew of layups by Dodds and center Jackson Lenoir, who each wound up with 14 points, put the Patriots firmly in control.
Layups by Lenoir and Dodds in the final minute of the opening quarter gave the Patriots a 16-9 lead. An Alex Stallion steal and layup at the 6:28 mark of the second quarter produced their first double-digit lead at 22-11, and a three-point play by Lenoir with 4:28 before halftime made it 29-11 to cap the 25-4 run.