By PAUL GOTHAM
HILTON, N.Y. — DeAndre Newsome led three in double figures, and the Greece Athena Trojans advanced to the finals of the 2018 Hilton Holiday Hall of Fame Tournament with a 68-60 victory over the Eastridge Lancers, Friday.
Newsome scored four points to cap a decisive 11-2 run that closed the first half.
Using 2-2-1 3/4 court pressure, the Trojans forced three turnovers and limited Eastridge to one field goal over the final 4:05 of the quarter.
“It’s all about being disciplined with our rotation,” Athena head coach Mike Setzer said of his defense. “What I try to tell them is our steals don’t have to happen right away. They can happen on a reversal or when they try to throw the ball down the court.”
Leading 21-20, Isaiah Brock converted his first of two rebound and putback opportunities. Kelvin Reaves, Jr. connected from behind the 3-point arc. Newsome hit twice from the free throw line and then grabbed an offensive rebound and converted his own putback.
Melvin Council, Jr. beats the horn. End 1st: @GAHSBoysHoops 14 @EastridgeHoops 10 pic.twitter.com/eJWmBHyuJG
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 28, 2018
Newsome finished with a season-high 19 points.
“DeAndre was huge for us,” Setzer said of the junior guard.
Reaves added 16 points, and Melvin Council, Jr. had 18 for the Trojans.
Reaves gave Athena its largest lead of the game when the senior converted a steal and layup for a 43-27 advantage with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Athena still had a 16-point advantage with less than three minutes to go in the quarter when Johnny Salone grabbed an offensive rebound and finished. The Trojans led 47-31.
Tony Arnold led Eastridge with a game-high 24 points. The junior guard connected 10 times from the floor including a pair of 3-pointers. Terrence Reid added 10 for the Lancers.
The Lancers used a full-court pressure to disrupt Athena’s rhythm in the fourth quarter. Adrian Rodgers completed a traditional 3-point play to cut the margin to six a 60-54 with 1:08 remaining in the game.
“It was really just that top to top pass,” Setzer said of Athena’s struggles agains the press. “We did work on it this week in practice. We did a better job to start. We ticked it down to under 10 seconds and got some good looks late in the shot clock, but then other times we just threw it to them right away.”
Austin Brown scored six points for Athena (7-1). Jake Cerone added a 3-pointer. Athena will play host Hilton in Saturday’s final.
Jaden Keech scored eight for Eastridge. Rodgers had seven, and Jamel Demery had six points for the Lancers. Talib Kinlock (3) and Jalen Rose Hannah (2) rounded out the scoring for Eastridge. The Lancers will play Bishop Kearney in Saturday’s consolation game.
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