COLONY — Crest High’s boys “had a lot of turnovers and we didn’t shoot the ball all that well,” head coach Travis Hermreck said Thursday.
So why is he so happy?
“I was glad to see ‘us’ back,” Hermreck said, after Crest took the early lead against visiting St. Paul and never let up in a 37-26 win.
“We played with the fire and intensity we’d been lacking,” Hermreck said. “It got intense out there. But once we got a double-digit lead, we never let it get back under that.”
Crest jumped out to a 15-8 lead after one quarter and a 22-15 cushion at the break. The lead swelled to 33-20 by the end of the third quarter.
Crest’s one-two tandem of Kyle Hammond and Jordan Morton did the bulk of the heavy lifting offensively, scoring all but six of the Lancers’ points. Hammond poured in 19 points and Morton 12.
Willie Westhoff scored 10 to pace St. Paul.
Crest now must wait until Tuesday to find out its opponent in next week’s Class 1A, Division 1 substate playoffs. The Lancers will either face these same Indians or Pleasanton. St. Paul plays Pleasanton on Tuesday. The Lancers (14-6) earned a first-round bye.
The regular season finale also served as Crest’s homecoming because its original homecoming date was snowed out. Dexter Wiley was crowned king, Kolbie Gilliland queen.
St. Paul (8-7-5-6—26) (FG/3-pt): Westhoff 1/2-2-3-10, O’Brien 0/1-0-2-3, Hutcherson 1-2-1-3, Vitt 0/1-4-1-7, Coomes 0-1-3-1, Schibi 0-1-2-1. TOTALS: 2/4-10-12-26.
Crest (15-7-11-4—37) (FG/3-pt): Wiley 1-1-3-3, Morton 0/4-0-0-12, Hammond 5/1-6-2-19, Brallier 0-2-0-2, Decker 0-1-5-1, J. Bowen 0-0-4-0. TOTALS: 6/5-10-14-37.
Lancers claim homecoming win
