Trinity sweeps Providence Grove

Greer Smith, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·3 min read

Jan. 4—TRINITY — Trinity's boys basketball team took control early on Tuesday.

With main scorers Dominic Payne, Dylan Hodges and Brandon Campbell splitting the load, the Bulldogs went on a huge run in the first half and cruised past Providence Grove 88-59 in Piedmont Athletic 1A/2A Conference play at Trinity.

The rout capped a sweep as the Trinity girls surged in front in the third quarter and downed the Patriots, 54-49.

Payne scored 30, Hodges 26 and Campbell 18 as the Bulldog boys improved to 13-3 and 3-1 in the conference.

"It was good," Trinity head coach Tim Kelly said. "We shot the ball extremely well and stayed disciplined until the fourth quarter ... We have just this game this week, so this was important. Practicing is a lot different than playing a game, and young kids don't understand that sometimes. But I was pleased."

Providence Grove led 10-9 with just under four minutes left in the first quarter before Trinity went on a 34-6 blitz that ended with the Bulldogs up 43-16 with just under 2:40 left in the second quarter. The run started with the last 17 points of the opening period on a Hodges' fastbreak layup, a layup from Campbell, a 3 and a three-point play from Payne, a 3 and a dunk by Hodges and a bucket by Evan Stepp off a pass from Payne.

After the Patriots scored the first three points of the second quarter, Trinity scored 11 of the next 12 points, a run marred when Colt Matthews was knocked over trying to take a charge and the back of his head hit the floor. Matthews was unable to return.

With Trinity leading by 25 in the closing seconds of the half, the atmosphere became contentious briefly when Hodges was knocked to the floor while streaking for a layup and no foul was called. Players were separated and Trinity received a technical foul for a player coming off the bench.

The sequence came just seconds after the Providence Grove bench was called for a technical.

"There were some hard fouls, but I didn't have a problem with (the one on Hodges), but they made it a no call," Kelly said. "The guy got the ball, but he got the body also, at least from our vantage point. We had a kid overreact. I think he went on the floor to see if (Hodges) was hurt because he's not a fighter. They banged him, but we deserved it. We know the rules."

Jacob Grantham and Zander Cheek each scored 10 for Providence Grove (4-10, 0-3).

Autumn Gentry scored 22 and Kennedy Jackson added 20 as Trinity improved to 10-6, 2-2.

With drives for layups, they powered an 18-2 run that lasted from just over three minutes left in the third quarter through the first minute of the fourth and ended with Trinity up 39-32. Gentry provided the highlight of the surge when he drove about three-quarters of the length of the court for a bucket at the third quarter buzzer.

The Patriots made a late surge and closed to 51-49 with 18 seconds left but the Bulldogs sealed the victory by making 3 of 4 free throws in the last 16 seconds.

Allie Frazier, Brooke Ingram and Asia Stevenson each scored 11 for the Patriots (5-8, 0-3).