Gaining steam: Copeland, Christian lead Patriots to win over Abbeville Christian

Published 9:53 pm Monday, December 10, 2018

The Pike Liberal Arts picked up their second consecutive win on Monday night when they knocked of the Abbeville Christian Generals in Troy.

The win for the Patriots improves their overall record on the season to 4-4.

“Any win is a good win,” said head coach Allen Ponder. “We will take any win we can get, obviously. I thought at times we played well, but I thought at times the game looked a little sloppy for us. In order for us to get to where we want to get this year, we have to be a consistent basketball team on the offensive and defensive end.”

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The Patriots finished with three players in double figures led by Javon Christian who tallied 14 points. Senior Max Copeland finished with 11 and Ty Singleton finished with 10 points.

“The great thing about our team is that they do play well together,” Ponder said. “Javon and Max do a good job of looking and finding each other. We have good team chemistry. These guys have been playing together for three years now and they have gotten better and better each year. As long as Javon and Max keeps doing their thing and everyone chips in then we have a shot to win games.”

The Patriots trailed just once in the game and that came on the first basket of the contest. After falling behind 2-0, the Patriots closed out the quarter on a 25-11 run and took a 25-13 lead into the second quarter.

The Patriots hit a total of nine three-pointers in the contest, eight of which came in the first two quarters. The Patriots used their long-range shooting to build a lead as high as 30 before heading into the locker room at halftime holding a 48-18 lead.

Copeland knocked down a shot to start the third quarter and the Patriots never looked back. The Patriots led by as many as 36 in the second half.

The Patriots will be back in action this afternoon when they travel to Smith Station to take on Glenwood. The Patriots hope to build up some momentum as they sneak closer to the holiday break.

“I think we have shown signs of being a pretty good basketball team,” Ponder said. “Every opportunity for us get better before the Christmas break is important. After Christmas we run into our area games, so we want to use every opportunity we have to get better.”