1. Lions do dirty work, beat Trion
Jeff Rancudo sports@daltoncitizen.com | Posted: Tuesday, January 12, 2016 8:38 pm
Christian Heritage School’s Seth Hutchinson draws contact on a drive to the basket Tuesday
against Trion.
You’ll probably never mistake Christian Heritage School basketball player Seth Hutchinson for a
guy who builds his game around style points. More like meat and potatoes. The guy that does the
dirty work. It ain’t always pretty, but it usually works for the Lions.
Tuesday night, Hutchinson played true to form. Facing a Trion team that didn’t mind throwing
plenty of high-flying elbows, body checks and an occasional hard foul, the tenacious Hutchinson
was happy to mix it up. He scored 17 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots to help
the No 8-ranked Class A Lions defeat the Bulldogs 57-50 at the Christian Heritage gym. Throw
in a bloody nose for Hutchinson as well.
As the Lions improved to 13-3 overall and 3-1 with the Region 6A win, one of the least surprised
with Hutchinson’s effort was his coach Tyler Watkins.
“That’s him. That’s his type of game,” Watkins said. “Seth has the greatest attitude, he competes
and he’s physical. Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it’s bad. But he’s worth every minute of it.”
The Lions needed much more than a one-man effort to counter the scrappy Bulldogs, who
dropped to 4-12. Christian Heritage got a broad contribution (even if just in the little things)
throughout the game as they trailed the entire first half and 28-26 at halftime. The Lions built a
38-34 lead on Sam Dindoffer’s 7-foot bank shot near the end of the third period and seemed to
take off from there.
Bulldogs guard Dawson Day hit 3 three-pointers in the first half and tallied 12 points in the first
two periods. But in the second half, Lions defenders Tristian Blackwell and Nasir Love-Porter
gave the Trion sharpshooter a personal escort to the defensive dungeon. Day scored only a single
three-pointer in the second half. He rarely touched the ball and when he did, the tough Lions duo
instantly made him give it up.
Love-Porter scored 15 points for the Lions and his smooth ball handling ran clock and kept
Christian Heritage in control late. Trion pulled within 43-41 with less than four minutes left. But
Christian Heritage post Cal Paige scored back-to-back shots — one a 7-foot, left-handed bank
shot and the other a right-handed hook from the same distance. Christian Heritage led 47-43 at
that point, but it took a block by Hutchinson triggering a fast-back layup by Love-Porter for a 49-
43 Christian Heritage advantage that Trion couldn’t overcome.
“Coach told us coming in it would be a fight and we’d have to bring it,” Hutchinson said. “My
role on the team is to bring energy and play at a high level every time I’m on the floor. Rebound,
score and give 100 percent.”

2. David McCrary scored 12 points for the Bulldogs and Jarret Gill added 10, much of them in the
paint. Christian Heritage big man Christian Koneman scored just seven points, but he blocked
shots and altered many others as did Paige, who finished with six points.
“Cal made two big-time shots,” Watkins said. “We’ve built our program on getting better every
day. We want to be blue collar guys who play the same way no matter how you feel and no
matter what’s happened to you that day.”
Christian Heritage girls 46, Trion 24: Ashlyn Clements, who sang the National Anthem before
the girls’ and boys’ games, made sweet music of her own as a player, too, by scoring 13 points
and dishing out five assists to lead CHS to a 46-24 Region 6A win over Trion.
Christian Heritage point guard Meghan Schneller scored 12 points, made three steals and assisted
on five Lady Lions baskets as the Lady Lions built a 17-3 lead early and were never threatened
by the Lady Bulldogs (5-11, 1-4 ). Olivia Idom scored 10 points for Christian Heritage. Kesley
Schneller scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds and Julie McDonald picked up five
steals.
Kerrigan Ramsey paced Trion with nine points and Taylor Bethune had five.
Christian Heritage impressed coach Derek Waugh as the Lady Lions improved to 4-9, 3-1.
“We executed well and we are really starting to understand how to play without dribbling and
we’re making extra passes,” Waugh said. “Defensively, we mixed it up on Trion. But what I like
for us is the game’s starting to slow down for us. I think that’s the most underrated thing in
sports. We had nine assists and only 15 turnovers. And we shared the ball well.”
Trion coach Lester Galyon noticed the improvement the Lady Lions are making.
“Christian Heritage put on a clinic with their half-court offense and with execution,” Galyon
said. “Their matchup zone defense gave us a lot of trouble.”