SFCS Middle School Crusaders Celebrate Back-to-Back Championships!           

    
              February 20, 2008 - It's deja-vu all over again for the Shannon Forest Christian School Middle School Crusaders Basketball team. The Crusaders played in the Carolina Middle School Conference (CMSC) Tournament over the weekend and just like last year, SFCS took home the first place trophy! In the three games played, SFCS downed Greenwood Christian in the opening round 41-11, overran St. Mary's in the semi-finals 35-24 and beat Mitchell Road (MRCA) in the finals 37-34 in an exciting overtime.

              In the first round game, SFCS earned a home game as the number two seed. The Crusaders were prepared to make a run at the championship. The game against seven-seed Greenwood was played on Monday, February 11, and the Crusaders won going away. The young Crusaders struggled early, only leading 6-4 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, Shannon Forest got the spark they needed. Great defense caused good looks on offense, as SFCS outscored Greenwood 22-4 in the second frame to put the game out of reach. The Crusaders cruised from there for a 41-11 win.

              The "Final Four" was played at St. Mary's, and that is a very tough place to play. To make it even harder, the two-seed Crusaders played the three-seed St. Mary's team in their own gym. It was be a tough obstacle to hurdle for the Crusaders, but the team was ready. In the match-up earlier in the season, SFCS won by only one, but in this game, the Crusaders played one of the best games of the season. The game remained close, but the Crusader were doing everything they were supposed to do, getting out on the three-point shot, boxing out to rebound, and finishing on the offensive end. In the fourth quarter, SFCS turned a close game into an 11-point victory, 35-24, with their tough defense.

              The Championship game was played on Friday, February 15, and those in attendance got their money's worth. MRCA and SFCS met for the second time this season. MRCA took the regular season game by 14 points, but SFCS wanted to avenge that loss. MRCA took the game's largest lead of 7, 14-7, in the second quarter, but the Crusaders would not quit. SFCS then went on a 7-0 run to tie the game. The Eagles hit a free throw to lead by 1 point at halftime. From then, neither team was able to pull away in the back-and-forth game. SFCS finally took their first lead of the game with under two minutes remaining, 32-30. After a missed SFCS free throw, MRCA hit a fade away shot with 11 seconds left to tie the game. Kendall Stephens' 15-foot shot just missed as time expired. In overtime, SFCS hit 5 free-throws and MRCA hit one basket, handing Shannon Forest the CMSC Championship 37-34!

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