(Jermaine Coleman pictured in the spring of 2021)

 

On Monday night, Heritage Christian (6-8) made the quick trip to Park Tudor (8-4) for a Sectional 42 match-up. The Panthers had won five of six games entering Monday. However, the Eagles have also been playing better recently.

 

Heritage Christian torched the nets early. The Eagles started 9-9 and 5-5 from the three-point line. However, a last-second layup got blocked to end the quarter 9-10 from the field. Mason Kay scored eight points in the opening quarter for Heritage Christian. In addition, John Henry Mclimore stuffed the stat sheet with three points, four assists, and two rebounds. Most impressively, Purdue signee Myles Colvin only tallied three points and two assists in the opening period.

 

Park Tudor was not playing poorly but found itself down 23-9 after one.

 

Willie Sanders made two three-pointers on the same possession to get Park Tudor going in the second half. Jordan Bowles’ effort on the glass led to the second Sanders three as he chased down Sanders’ missed free throw. Bowles tallied five points and four rebounds in the first half to keep Park Tudor in it.

 

Andrew Wiggins became a focal point for Heritage Christian. The powerfully-built forward tallied ten first-half points and grabbed four rebounds as well. Park Tudor’s Bryce Petty scored seven points to offset Wiggins a bit, but Heritage Christian still led 31-25 at halftime.

 

The game went back and forth to begin the second half, and Colvin asserted himself. Colvin scored his sixth point of the third quarter to extend Heritage Christian’s lead to 39-36.

 

The game changed dramatically on the next HC possession as Colvin committed an offensive foul away from the ball, then picked up a technical arguing the call. It was his fourth and fifth foul, so Colvin fouled out with 1:27 left in the third.

 

Park Tudor took advantage of Colvin’s disqualification. Jermaine Coleman scored in the lane to give the Panthers their first lead of the game, 40-39. Seconds later, he stole a pass before taking it to the other end for an uncontested dunk. After only scoring four first-half points, Coleman scored nine in the third quarter.

 

Bowles and Petty remained steady for Park Tudor as the Panthers took the lead going into the fourth quarter.

 

Coleman and Thomas Ruffin scored two quick baskets to extend Park Tudor’s lead to 46-41. Ruffin scored three points in the first quarter and four in the fourth to finish with seven points and six rebounds.

 

The game’s pace slowed on both ends, and without Colvin, Heritage Christian did not have many clean shot attempts. As a result, Heritage Christian searched for a scoring option, and head coach Warren Wallace found it in Nolen Duncan. He came off the bench to score four of Heritage Christian’s eight fourth-quarter points.

 

Even in a grinding fourth quarter, Heritage Christian had the ball down three with 15 seconds left. However, Park Tudor only had four second-half team fouls and wisely used them to eat the clock on the final possession. Dylan Doss finally took a desperation three for Heritage Christian at the buzzer, but it was off the mark.

 

Park Tudor won 50-47.

 

Coleman finished with 15 points and seven rebounds on 6-16 shooting from the field. Bowles added 11 points and six rebounds as he seemed to be all over the court all night for the Panthers. Petty also scored 11 in the Park Tudor victory.

 

Wiggins recorded ten points and nine rebounds in a losing effort. Mclimore tallied seven points, seven rebounds, and six assists, and Kay finished with eight points. Colvin notched nine points, three assists, and two rebounds in his 18 minutes.

 

Park Tudor has a busy week with International on Thursday and Brebeuf on Saturday. Heritage Christian plays University on Saturday afternoon.