Eastside Baptist wins Church League title
Eastside Baptist proved once again it was the class of the Church League on the final night. Eastside claimed the Church League tournament championship Monday, defeating the Blessed Hoopers 79-61.
CJ Taylor had a game-high 27 points, tournament MVP Nate Elrod chipped in 21 and Hunter Black delivered two dagger triples in the fourth quarter to help Eastside win another battle between the league rivals in the title game. Isaiah Cummings, an all-tournament selection, had 23 points in a losing effort for the Hoopers.
What was one of the defining games of a long regular season got its encore in the championship, but this one wouldn’t be going down to the wire. Eastside Baptist built a double-digit lead in the first quarter and ended up leading almost wire-to-wire in the title tilt, answering every run with a flurry of its own against the Hoopers.
Taylor was the catalyst early. The lefty legend opened the scoring with a long triple, one of three he’d knock down as Eastside started on a 13-2 run.
Brothers Isaiah and Kristopher Robledo tried to keep the Hoopers in touch, hitting one 3-pointer each in the first quarter to start cutting into the deficit.
Elrod began getting hot in the second quarter, scoring 11 points in an instant as Eastside went to halftime leading 37-28.
The lead began to swell when the teams came out of the break. Taylor and Elrod worked their ways to the basket for layups, Black got a run-out layup and hit a big 3-pointer, and Bryson Elrod connected from straightaway on a long ball as the lead was pushed all the way out to 18 points before Cummings caught fire.
He tried to put his team on his back, dipping deep into his bag to spark what would be a 15-0 run. He drained triples, hit pull-ups and got all the way to the rim for layups as the lead was trimmed to 55-52 by the final minute of the third quarter.
Eastside got a big break in the last second when Taylor corralled a long rebound and tried to heave the ball from well past half court at the buzzer, only to be grabbed by the wrist as time expired. Taylor was awarded three free throws and hit two, pushing the lead to five going into the last 10 minutes.
Taylor made plays to get the lead back to double figures early in the fourth quarter, but the Blessed Hoopers thought they may have a chance at a late rally when Eastside’s star went down with a calf injury with five minutes to go.
Black wasn’t going to let it happen. He spotted up in the corner and made the Hoopers pay, smashing a pair of back-breaking triples that iced the game.
After the contest, Elrod, by virtue of being the highest scorer for Eastside in the tournament, was named the MVP, while Black and Taylor received all-tournament trophies. Cummings and Josh Rubio earned all-tournament honors from the Blessed Hoopers.
Eastside scoring - Taylor 27, Nate Elrod 21, Black 16, Jordan Sandlin 8, Bryson Elrod 5, Darek Elrod 2
Hoopers scoring - Cummings 23, Isaiah Robledo 14, Kristopher Robledo 8, Trey 7, Josh Rubio 7, Raleigh Woods 2
All-tournament selections, from left, are CJ Taylor, Joshua Rubio, Hunter Black, Isaiah Cummings and MVP Nate Elrod.
