AHOSKIE – Ahoskie Christian School led wire-to-wire, pulling away in the second half, en route to a 66-28 non-conference win over Weldon’s Cornerstone Christian Academy here Tuesday night.

Jaylen Freeman led all scorers with 24 points in the win, while teammate Ryan Blowe finished with 16. Rider Lumsden led Cornerstone in scoring with 10 points.

“A bit of a slow start for us,” said ACS coach David Mullens, who saw his team’s record climb to the .500 mark at 4-4. “It was good to see us shake things out, playing great team-ball for most of the game.”

Blowe opened the scoring by draining a three-point basket in the opening minutes as the first offensive salvo of the contest. Cornerstone got within a single point three times, 3-2, 7-6, and 9-8 before Ahoskie went on a 15-4 run, cranking it up a notch. Nine of those points were scored by Freeman, who soared for key offensive rebounds and put backs, while also making three-of-four at the charity stripe. The Warriors had doubled up their guests, 24-12, after the first quarter had expired.

ACS really turned up the defense in the second quarter, and Cornerstone contributed to their own demise with poor shooting. The Patriots managed just three points in the period – an early three-point made-basket – as Ahoskie Christian got their transition game in gear on key fast breaks and lay-ups. The Warrior lead bulged to 21 points, 36-15, with back-to-back three pointers from Blowe, as the halftime horn sounded.

Ahoskie opened the second half on an 11-2 run, more than half those points (six) made by Freeman, who skied for rebounds then led the fast break straight to a score at the other end. By now, Cornerstone was plagued by sloppy play and ACS just rolled with the offense. Garrett Brown buried a jump shot with three minutes left in the period and the Warriors did the rest from the free throw line – making four-out-of-six – before Trent Hoggard closed it out with a rebound put back. It was 52-20, Ahoskie, headed to the fourth quarter.

Ahoskie continued rolling with six of their first seven points of the frame scored by Freeman to make it 57-20 for the home team. The teams swapped buckets on the next four times down court, with Cornerstone fighting to not lose by 40 points. A late CCS injury with just 37 seconds left in the contest that the coaches and referees feared might be a mild concussion forced the game to be called with that small amount of time left on the clock.

“We’ve evened things up now with our record,” said Mullens. “Now I just want us to keep up the momentum.”

Ahoskie Christian has one more home date – next Monday (Dec. 18) against Calvary Baptist Church. After that, the Warriors head off to their Christmas break.

 

AHOSKIE CHRISTIAN BOYS   (66)

Jaylen Freeman-24, Ryan Blowe-16, Damien Jones-8, Trent Hoggard-7, Garrett Brown-5, Jackson Perry-5, Cody Hurdle-1.

CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN BOYS   (28)

Rider Lumsden-10, Nathan Walker-7, Peyton Pepper-4, Ethan Mullen-3, Jeffrey Petrillo-2, Jonathan Petrillo-2.