Stratford boys get key win over Crisp Academy 88-37

The first few minutes sure didn’t offer any foreshadowing of what was to follow.

After five possessions, Stratford had two turnovers and two points while trailing Crisp Academy by six.

Stratford’s sluggish start became contagious, and Crisp went into a slump.

A fatal slump.

Stratford scored on six straight trips while Crisp came up empty on six in a row, and the rout was on for the Eagles, who cruised to an 88-37 win Tuesday in the Tattnall Christmas Basketball Tournament.

“We’re still trying to figure it out,” Stratford head coach Jarvis Smith said of those opening minutes. “Our goal was to try to figure a rotation out, figure out personnel and what everybody does.”

There was plenty of “figuring out” that followed that early stretch, so much so that two minutes were shaved off the fourth quarter, in which Stratford entered with a 74-31 lead.

The Eagles, who visit highly-touted George Walton on Saturday, improved to 6-4 with their highest point total of the season by 27 points and largest margin of victory by 10 points. The Wildcats fell to 3-9 after their fifth straight loss.

Smith wasn’t too worried about the shaky start, considering Crisp lost 91-17 to Tattnall on Monday, a few hours after Stratford avenged an early-December loss to Trinity Christian with a 51-41 win.

“Trinity beat us like the first or second game of the year,” Smith said. “We were definitely a different team (Monday) than we were the first time. I told them going into that game, ‘We’re going to see our growth, from Game 2 to Game (9).’”

The Eagles got off to a late start this season as far as having a full roster, thanks to the football team’s run to the GIAA Class 4A state championship.

That meant a delayed transition for about nine football players trading cleats for sneakers.

“We had a game that Tuesday,” Smith said of what followed the football finale. “So, they played (football) Saturday, played (basketball) Tuesday.”

A break followed, then some momentum started, just in time for the Christmas break. Stratford started exerting its quickness advantage with tempo-changing traps and a press, and Crisp turned it over seven times in 10 possessions.

Landon Gates scored on four of those six trips that got the Eagles going in the first quarter, ranging from a couple of 3-pointers to a 14-footer to a bucket from the baseline.

“He’s starting to step up,” Smith said. “He’s my first four-year kid in the system, the last kid from the state championship team.

“So now, it’s his opportunity to help lead the program, and he’s starting to figure it out, starting to understand what it means to be in that role.

“He’s been really playing well the last three or four games.”

Gates added a stop-and-pop bucket as Stratford rolled into a 20-12 lead that grew by a point after a quarter.

Things continued in the second quarter, won 27-10 by the Eagles, who got points from eight players in the quarter. Chandler Freeman had a third of Stratford’s output, the Eagles getting 3-pointers from four different players.

Gates finished with 24 points, while Freeman added 18. Five Eagles managed at least five points.

Sophomore Joshua Holder led Crisp with 13 points.

Smith got to sit down and empty the bench early.

“You get an opportunity to play young guys and non-rotation guys,” said Smith, who couldn’t remember the last time the Eagles forced a shortened quarter. “And they hear those starters and rotation guys on the bench cheering for their teammates.

“That’s always an awesome feeling.”