Keenan’s Dillon Jones drives against Spartanburg Day.
Keenan’s Dillon Jones scored 13 points, grabbed five rebounds, doled out three assists, and snagged five steals to lead a balanced Raiders’ attack in a 57-54 victory over prep phenom Zion Williamson and his Spartanburg Day Griffins in the semifinals of the National Division of the Chick-fil-A Classic December 22.
Keenan also got double figure scorers in Dantrell Sligh-Rogers who got 12 points and four rebounds and Tariq Simmons with 11 points and four steals. Rodriguez Marshall chipped in six points to go with five rebounds, and Ervin Stone and Derrick Sinkler each had five points. Stone also pulled down five rebounds and had a couple of blocks. Latrell Taylor got three points, and Q’Dardrius Sanders had two points to go with three steals.
Williamson led Spartanburg Day with a game-high 19 points, well below his 35.67 tournament average. He did pull down a game-high 15 rebounds to go with four blocks and three steals. Matthew Brown chipped in 15 points, and Kyle Tracy had eight to go with five rebounds. Chandler Lindsey and Bishop Richardson each had six points and three assists.
Spartanburg Day’s Zion Williamson soars in for a dunk against Keenan.
The Raiders jumped out to a 12-6 lead getting points from four different players. Sinkler led the way with five, Taylor had three, and Simmons and Marshall each had two. Williamson got his first points a little over three minutes in with a dunk.
The Griffins cut the Keenan lead to 17-16 at the 8:12 mark with five points each from Brown and Tracy, but the Raiders responded with a 10-2 run getting six straight from Sligh-Rogers to go with buckets from Sanders and Stone.
Spartanburg Day closed the first half on an 11-2 run getting eight points from Williamson including a dunk at the buzzer to tie the game at 29-29 at the half.
The Griffins built a 40-34 advantage to start the second half with four from Lindsey, buckets from Williamson and Brown, and a 3-pointer from Richardson. The Raiders battled back and tied it at 45-45 with 8:17 to play getting six points from Sligh-Rogers, three from Jones, and a basket from Simmons.
Keenan’s Latrell Taylor goes for a layup over Spartanburg Day’s Kyle Tracy.
After two more ties, Brown hit a jumper to give the Griffins a 54-51 lead with 1:29 to play. Then Simmons hit a layup and grabbed a steal for Keenan. After a Raider timeout, Jones hit a jumper to give Keenan the lead for good, and then he added a couple more free throws for the final count.
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