MCS rallies, but Trojans fall to North River

Published 12:10 am Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Justin McGuire shoots a layup during Tuesday night’s loss to North River.  McGuire scored 25 points to lead Meadowview, but the Trojans couldn’t overcome a late 4-0 spurt by the Chargers. --Daniel Evans

Justin McGuire shoots a layup during Tuesday night’s loss to North River. McGuire scored 25 points to lead Meadowview, but the Trojans couldn’t overcome a late 4-0 spurt by the Chargers. –Daniel Evans

Meadowview Christian rallied from a late seven-point deficit Tuesday night against North River, only to watch the Chargers win the game with two clutch shots in the final minute.

Keymon McGuire and Justin McGuire stole the ball on back-to-back plays for layups to tie the game at 62-62 with 45 seconds left. North River ran the ball down the court, and Tre’ Butler knocked down a game deciding three-pointer with 22 seconds left.

Meadowview turned the ball over and Tavoris Sanders scored on the other end for a layup for North River to put it away.

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“We missed layups and free throws. If you make those, you can win games in this league,” said Meadowview coach John Robert Morton.

“We didn’t make any free throws, we didn’t make any layups. They deserved to win because they did that.”

Most of the game centered around Sanders, who scored 41 points on the night. He made four 3-pointers, with three of those coming in the first quarter.

“One person can’t beat you,” Morton said. “He wouldn’t have beat us by himself, and he had some help right there at the end and that was the difference in the ball game.”

Justin McGuire did his part to keep the Trojans in it. He scored 25 points and had a huge block in the second quarter on a Sanders’ layup.

The Trojans led 18-15 after the first quarter and 25-24 at halftime.

After McGuire’s layup put Meadowview up three to begin the third quarter, North River went on a 10-4 run.

Jeremy Lee made a 3-pointer, one of two he had on the night, to pull the Trojans within 34-32.

The Trojans kept it close the remainder of the quarter and even got within one on a layup by Sam Dabit, but Meadowview never took the lead.

Lakweili Rice beat the buzzer on a 3-pointer to end the third quarter, giving the Chargers a 43-39 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Meadowview fell behind seven early in the fourth quarter after Butler knocked down a 3-pointer. Butler didn’t score at all until the fourth, but then scored eight of the game’s biggest points.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on,” Morton said. “This is a good measuring stick for us.”