Red Hot Knights Roll Over the Lancers

John Lauterjung, Staff Reporter|January 11, 2018

Akron, OH: On Tuesday night, the air in Barry Gym felt more like SoCal than Cle. The heat emitted from Archbishop Hoban’s 6-foot-2 senior guard Collen Gurley. The talented senior had himself quite a night, dropping 26 points and scoring half of the teams total from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Knights defeated the visiting Gilmour Academy Lancers 72-57, doing most of the damage in a convincing 27-12 third-quarter run. After a tightly contested first quarter, the Knights had a slim two point lead.  Although they took a 29-19 second quarter margin, the Lancers stormed back cutting the lead to two at half.

Gurley soon answered, scoring 10 of the Knights 27 points in the third quarter, with three field foals coming from behind the arc.

“I guess I just had the hot hand tonight, I was having fun out there,” Gurley said.

Gurley’s performance was not only monumental in the landscape of the game, but also in the history of Hoban Basketball. The 26 points he picked up Tuesday night propelled him within 175 points of the all-time scoring record.

“The guys were fresh and rested, sometimes less is more,” head coach T.K. Griffith said.  

“Gurley had a good warm up and we were able to get in a light practice before the game that.”

Even though they are a long way out, some players are looking forward to the playoffs in the hopes of a promising run.

“We’re a really good team, we can make a really deep playoff run” Gurley said optimistically.

With this team poised for domination this year, seasons to come may be just as promising. With the game in hand, Coach Griffith was able to give less experienced underclassmen quality court time with minutes to spare in the fourth quarter.

“We have 2 senior starters and a lot of young guys, we have so many that are talented and are going to help us make a run this season and in years to come.” Griffith said.

With the Knights dancing their way through the regular season, the student body is looking forward to a game later in the month on the 26th at Walsh Jesuit, which depending on how he performs, Gurley could be breaking the school scoring record around that time too.