Life Summit finds legs to win Eagles Cup Invitational
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
CLARKSTON — Grant Brown enjoyed the experience of winning the Eagles Cup Invitational so much as a player, he had to come back as a coach to win another title.
Brown, the first-year head coach for Life Summit Home School, played for his alma mater that won three titles at the Eagles Cup (2006-08). Now he coached his team to a an 54-41 triumph Saturday over defending Davison Faith Baptist in the annual three-day tournament held at Clarkston Springfield Christian.
The tournament has become a season-opening fixture for small Christian schools and home schools alike, beginning back in the mid-1980s.
“We won it three times when I played for Life Summit. It was fun coming back as a coach and doing it again,” said Brown, who played two years at Rochester College before entering the coaching world. “I have some good memories at this tournament.”
Davison Faith (2-1) led 17-13 after the first quarter, but the Eagles were quite the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Life Summit warmed up to use a 12-4 run in the second quarter to take a 25-21 lead at the half.”
“We were definitely tired (playing three games in three days),” admitted Brown.
“The biggest thing for us is we’re a home school team, so we only practice three times a week,” explained Brown. “That makes it really tough (conditioning-wise). We do run a lot when we run, but we only went seven deep in the championship game. I have a lot of upperclassmen and a couple of good sophomores. They’re in shape. They know what it takes to win a game like this (when shots aren’t falling). But we were tired. We (gutted) this out.”
Life Summit continued to pull away in the second half, outscoring Davison Faith 11-8 in the third quarter and 18-12 in the final frame.
“We played three games in one day at a preseason (scrimmage) tournament, and that helped us prepare for this tournament,” said Brown. “We were dragging early on, but I think we played through it and picked it up in the second quarter.”
Senior guard Corey Johnson scored 15 and sophomore George Vidosh added 14 points for Life Summit. Sophomore Ethan Mason added eight points for the winners.
Jonathan Knapp scored 15 points to lead Faith Baptist. Josh Vanaman and Ethan Moore score nine apiece for the Eagles.
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Category: Prep Wraps
