University Heights Academy used a 21-0 first-half run to pull away from Heritage Christian Academy and get the 63-23 district win on Thursday.
The win was the first as Blazers’ head coach for Jordan Grace after two losses to begin the season.
UHA jumped ahead 10-3 and never trailed in the contest at Warrior Gym.
Nash McAfee and Tabor Vincent hit back-to-back 3-pointers to key the 21-0 run that extended the UHA lead to 37-9 at halftime.
The Blazers turned up the defensive heat in the quarter as they hit five 3-pointers and forced 20 HCA turnovers in the first 16 minutes.
Ryan Luckey hit a 3-pointer with 3:55 left in the third quarter to push the UHA lead to 49-12 and trigger the running clock.
The 40-point final margin equaled the largest of the game.
The Blazers were playing without starters Keshawn Moore, serving the final game of a suspension for being ejected last week, and Hayden Hunt, who was ill.
Freshman Nash McAfee ran the point for UHA and scored 18 points. He hit two ot UHA’s seven 3-pointers and added six rebounds and four steals.
“From the get-go, we’ve told the guys we don’t care if you’re eighth grade or a senior, we’re playing next man up. So this has been a good test for us,” Grace said. “It was good for those guys to see some varsity minutes and see how the speed of the game gets and how physical it can get.”
Ryan Luckey added 12 points and five rebounds for the Blazers, who turned 30 HCA turnovers into 20 points.
After Murray hit 18 three-pointers and shot 53% from the field in a 50-point win over the Blazers on Monday, Grace feels some things were addressed in practice this week.
“Our defensive effort was probably the worst it’s been all year. We had a really intense practice yesterday. They know what their expectations are now going forward, so there should be no laziness or anything like that out of our guys,” Grace said. We’re really excited about getting defensive and turning it into offense and making sure that we take care of the basketball.”
Noah Arvin scored all nine of HCA’s first-half points and finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Cameron Oesch scored two points and pulled down six rebounds.
“That’s his best game this season, a breakout game, so it was big for him, and it’s going to be big for our team down the stretch,” said first-year HCA coach Jeremy Leek.
Like UHA, the Warriors were playing without their leading scorer, Nathan Wheatcraft, who was injured in last week’s loss to Caldwell County and will miss several weeks.
The Blazers were able to capitalize, forcing 13 second-quarter turnovers.
“Nathan’s out, and we’ve got two young guards in there, and so the pressure was the deciding factor in that second quarter,” said Leek, who feels he has some options moving forward to try to eliminate the mistakes.
UHA, who held a 32-22 advantage on the glass, improved to 10-0 all-time against Heritage Christian.
The Warriors will host Clarksville Christian on Monday and Community Christian on Tuesday as they look for their first win of the season.
“We talked about the things that we can fix and the things that we have no control over,” Leek said of their upcoming games. “We have to be a little bit more physical. We got to play to the whistle sounds and be tougher.”
University Heights will travel to Henderson County on Monday, and Union County next Friday, as their schedule has no home games between Dec. 9 and Jan. 11.
University Heights Academy 16 21 16 8– 63
Heritage Christian Academy 7 2 6 8– 23
UHA (1-2, 1-0) – McAfee 18, Luckey 12, Miles 9, Vincent 9, Hickman 8, Fields 4, Sharber 2, Cavanah 1
HCA (0-5, 0-1) – Arvin 17, Hensley 3, Oesch 2, Morgan 1
Rebounds – UHA 32 (McAfee 6, Fields 6), HCA 22 (Arvin 7, Oesch 6)
Assists – UHA 11 (Miles 3), HCA 3 (Hensley 2)
Steals – UHA 18 (McAfee 4, Luckey 4, Miles 4), HCA 6 (Hensley 2, Morgan 2)
