17’s wild for Cherry, Knights clip Eagles
- Updated: January 5, 2018
2017 EAST COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL
Foothills Christian 59, Santa Fe Christian 48
By James McHugh
RANCHO SAN DIEGO – Foothills Christian is off to a 2-0 start in the Coastal League after downing Santa Fe Christian on Friday night at Cuyamaca College. TAESHON CHERRY led all scorers on the night with 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds for the double-double.
Foothills jumped on the Eagles early in part due to the guard play of sophomore YASSINE GHARRAM and junior JAREN NAFARRETE. The guard duo accounted for 10 of the Knights’ first-half points and limited the turnovers on offense.
Just before the break DERRIEN CARTER-HOLLINGER purged a possible Eagles comeback with a length of the floor effort for a monster block that ended what should have been an easy scoring opportunity for Santa Fe Christian.
The night was anything but smooth sailing for Foothills after halftime. Leading 33-22 at the break, the Knights proceeded to connect on just one of 15 shots from the floor in the third quarter.
DERRICK CARTER-HOLLINGER connected on one of two free-throws and Cherry and Gharram each had a pair in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Nafarrete dropped eight of his 14 points on the night to give the Knights some breathing room.
Matt Stevenson led the Eagles with 14 points, slicing through the Knights defense on a number of occasions. The 6’4 senior also grabbed 11-rebounds in the loss. Santa Fe Christian managed just four points in the fourth quarter before the Knights cleared their bench.
Both ALFREDO TORRES and JALAI O’KEITH saw action for the first time on the season for Foothills Christian. Foothills takes on Orange Glen on the road on January 10th, in their third Coastal League game of the season before a showcase game against Lynwood on January 15th at Orange Lutheran.
Foothills Christian Scoring: Cherry 17, 17 Reb-3 Blk-2 Stl, Nafarrete 14, 6 Stl-3 Ast-1 Reb, DJ Carter-Hollinger 13, 11 Reb-4 Ast-1Stl, Gharram 12, 3 Reb-3Ast-1Blk-1Stl, Blue 3, 1 Reb-1Ast, Dixon, 3 Reb, O’Keith 2 Reb-1Stl,
