CHESTERTOWN — Thomas Benson was lights out from 3-point range, John Stoltzfus owned the paint and Brian Lloyd scored from multiple spots on the court as Chestertown Christian Academy dismantled Fairwinds Christian School in varsity boys basketball here Friday night, Feb. 7.
It was homecoming for the Patriots, who took a 3-0 lead on Lloyd’s shot from outside the arc with 2 minutes, 36 seconds elapsed and never trailed on the way to a commanding 58-35 victory.
Lloyd, who was crowned homecoming king at halftime, finished with 14 points. He was one of three Patriots to score in double digits.
Benson, a junior, led all players with 18 points — all in the first half and all on threes.
Stoltzfus added 13 points, which included a couple of dunks and a couple more soft lay-ins that easily could have been dunks.
Freshman Josh Frain contributed seven points off the bench.
Craig Clark and Micah Baugher made up the balance for CCA (4-5).
The visitors from Bear, Delaware dented the scoreboard about three minutes into the game, before the Patriots asserted themselves with 14 unanswered points to close out the opening frame.
Fifteen of CCA’s 17 first-quarter points came on the long ball. Benson buried three 3-pointers in a row from essentially the same spot on the court and with his back to the Fairwinds’ bench. His third trey of the quarter came with 38 seconds remaining and stretched the lead to 17-2.
The Patriots took their first double-digit lead at 14-2 on a Benson 3-pointer with 1:58 to play in the opening quarter, and they led by at least 10 points the rest of the way.
Benson knocked down three more 3-pointers in the second quarter, Stoltzfus dropped in seven points and Frain found nothing but net on his shot from outside the arc with 8 seconds remaining in the half as the home team extended its lead to 36-17 at the break.
The Patriots’ first field goal of the second half was a Lloyd 3-pointer with only 59 seconds elapsed.
Stoltzfus followed a teammate’s miss with a gentle two-handed dunk, drawing cheers from the partisan crowd as the advantage grew to 43-22 late in the third quarter.
Frain closed out the quarter scoring on a layup, off a pass from Stoltzfus, as CCA carried a 45-25 lead into the final quarter.
Stoltzfus’ second dunk of the game came with 5:03 remaining, and again he was putting back a teammate’s miss.
Lloyd’s fourth and final 3-pointer of the evening at the 4:22 mark started a run of six unanswered points that Clark punctuated to extend the spread to 58-27 — the Patriots’ largest lead — with 3:05 to play.
Fairwinds closed out the game on a 5-0 run against mostly CCA reserves.
The Knights boasted three players in double figures — Matt Diaz with 13 points, Solomon McCloud with 11 points and Daniel Evans with 10.
