Boys Basketball: Skyline falls at Dearborn Divine Child (see WLAA photo gallery)
The Dearborn Divine Child boys’ basketball team didn’t make a field goal until there was 1:33 left in the first quarter in its game on Thursday night against visiting Ann Arbor Skyline. The visiting Eagles built a 12-0 lead and took a 14-3 advantage to the second quarter.
Fast forward to the final seconds of the game to when Divine Child’s Gannon Blair knocked down two free throws to give the home team a 50-43 lead.
What happened in between the end of the first quarter and the end of the game?
Well, for one, a very good basketball game between two well-coached and strong basketball teams that both played hard and spirited. The end result was a 53-46 Divine Child victory over Skyline in a non-league game in which both teams will probably benefit from down the stretch. Skyline led 26-18 at halftime before DC outscored the Eagles 16-8 in the third quarter to send the game into the fourth all tied at 34-34.
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The fourth quarter was a one or two point difference until Grant Reising scored to give the Falcons a 46-43 lead. Gannon Blair scored inside to make it 48-43 with 1:20 to play and then hit two free throws to seal the deal.
Andrew Iaquaniello had a huge game for the Falcons. The senior guard scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the second half including 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. Blair also came up big down the stretch. The junior forward scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and knocked down 4 of 5 free throws in the final period. Lorenzo Vitti finished with eight points for DC.
Chris Cayton led the Eagles with 11 points while James Harrison scored 10 points. Jack Williams hit two triples in the first half and finished with nine points. Jayden Potts had seven points and Will Gardner scored six for the visitors.
DC Coach Mac Horvath was pleased with what he saw from his team especially after the rough start.
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“We started off slow but we really battled back and played a phenomenal second half,” Horvath said. “This team has battled through adversity and had highs and lows and we’re still trying find out what’s causing the inconsistencies but we responded well tonight.”
And they responded well against a very good basketball team.
“Skyline is a really good program,” Horvath said. “They are a very good team, well-coached and it was a great challenge so I’m really proud of how we played against them.”
Divine Child improved to 8-1 on the season.
Skyline, after a 10-day quarantine period, returned on Tuesday and lost to Saline but played well early in that game. The Eagles also started out strong against the Falcons as they look to regain their mojo.
“I thought we played well and were competitive for a long period of time in this game (DC),” said Skyline Coach Mike Lovelace said. “They started to make a little run and I thought we could press them a little bit, but give them credit because they took care of the ball. We switched to man and just missed some assignments and they made some layups at the end. We shot poorly especially in the last 4 or 5 minutes of the game.
“All that said, it was much better than it was on Tuesday.”
Lovelace was thankful to get the game in with DC as the Eagles look to get back on track.
“We want to play great competition and there really are no easy games on our schedule and we like that,” he said. “Divine Child is a really good team and they played hard the entire game. They missed a lot of shots early but they have a very good mentality and toughness and they got us at the end.”
Skyline returns to the SEC on Saturday when the Eagles travel to Bedford for a game with the Kicking Mules.
