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By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Sunrise Christian Academy coach Luke Barnwell says his team can adapt to any style.
Locked in a low-scoring, defensive struggle against Memphis East, Barnwell needed his guards to step up.
They did.
Jordan Turner (16 points), Grant Sherfield (14 points) and Noel Coleman (eight points) led the way as Sunrise (Kan.) defeated Memphis East 50-34 in Friday night’s Tournament of Champions semifinals.
“Whatever recipe we need to have to be successful, I think we’re able to dial it up,” Barnwell said. “Tonight, we were able to play more on the perimeter because we needed to.”
Sunrise (14-2 overall) faces McEachern (Ga.) at 9 p.m. Saturday in the Tournament of Champions title game at JQH Arena. Sunrise is making its first appearance in the tournament.
“It’s another opportunity to go out and get a trophy for Sunrise,” said Sherfield, a UCLA signee. “Great opportunity, great tournament.”
Friday’s game featured a matchup between two of the top post players in the country: Memphis East senior James Wiseman and Sunrise junior Nfaly Dante.
Wiseman had 14 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes. He shot 6-for-16 from the field, including 2-for-5 from 3-point range.
Dante finished with four points and six rebounds in 20 minutes. He fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
“I honestly thought Dante and James would cancel each other out, and they kind of did,” Barnwell said. “The difference was, James hit two 3-pointers and some perimeter shots. I just told Dante, ‘That’s not going to beat you the whole game.’”
Offense was hard to come by for both sides. Memphis East clung to a 10-6 lead for nearly seven minutes of game time between the first and second quarters.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“It felt like we couldn’t get anything to fall, so we just had to rely on defense and just slug it to see who could come out with a win,” Sherfield said. “It’s not fun when shots aren’t falling out, but it’s fun to grind it out and see who can guard the hardest.”
Both teams shot nearly identical from the field – Sunrise was 15-for-40 overall and Memphis East went 14-for-40.
The difference came at the free throw line. Sunrise made 14 of 18 free throw attempts; Memphis East made only one of its nine attempts from the line.
“I could just tell by how disciplined they were defensively that it might be low-scoring. And I know how disciplined we were defensively,” Barnwell said. “Nothing was going to come easy. There weren’t a lot of easy shots.”
Memphis East went scoreless through the opening four minutes of the third quarter. In that span, Sunrise’s 18-14 halftime lead swelled to 30-14.
Memphis East (13-5 overall) finished with 16 turnovers.
“We started getting aggressive defensively and that kind of broke the game open for us,” Barnwell said. “We got turnovers, which lead to easy baskets and that got us comfortable.”
Memphis East plays Shadow Mountain (Ariz.) at 7 p.m. in the third place game.
Sunrise Christian Academy 50, Memphis East 34
Sunrise 6 12 17 15 — 50
East 10 4 9 11 — 34
Sunrise – Jordan Turner 16, Grant Sherfield 14, Noel Coleman 8, Jalyn Turner 5, Nfaly Dante 4, Austin Crowley 2, Gethro Muscadin 1
East – James Wiseman 14, Antonio Thomas 6, Nautical Harwell 5, Derrei Merriweather 4, Isaiah Cathey 3, Malcolm Dandridge 2
