A 25 point opening period was all the Alliance St. Agnes boy’s basketball team needed in a home contest Thursday against Crawford. The Crusaders raced to a 25 to 2 lead after the first and went on to post a 56 to 11 win over the visiting Rams. With the win, the Academy improves to 4 and 1 for the year. Crawford won the JV game, defeating the Crusaders 23 to 15 in the late game. Ten Alliance players got into the score column, led by 8th grader Cisco Cody who had 16 points. Also scoring in double figures were Tripp Johnson who tallied 13 and Enzo Kappius who netted 10. In the junior varsity battle, three Crusaders-Kappius, Liam Pena, and Jaden Estevane Acosta- led the Academy on offense with 4 points each.
Crawford would score first but it was all St. Agnes after that. The Academy ran off 25 straight points to lead 25 to 2 after one period of action. Johnson and Cody paced the St. Agnes offense in the first. Johnson scored the first points of the quarter and ended the period with 13. Cody nailed 5 buckets and finished the opening quarter with 10. Fellow 8th grader Grayson Dibrito also added a basket and the period closed with SA out in front by 23. In the second, the Academy would outscore the guests 8 to 4 to increase their lead. Kappius had a 2 pointer and 2 free throws to lead the Alliance offense. Phoenix Red Nest and Cody also had hoops in period #2 and the teams went to half with St. Agnes leading 33 to 6.
Both parts of the Academy team were clicking in the third. St. Agnes shut out the Rams in the quarter while tallying 15 points on offense. Five Crusaders got into the scorebook led by 4 points apiece by Kappius and Cody. Braden Myers hit a triple for SA while the Crusaders got 2 points each from Dibrito and Gage Finkey. Going to the fourth, the Academy margin stood at 48 to 6. Four Crusaders tallied goals in the final period. St. Agnes got 2 pointers from Joe Collins, Kappius, and Luke Jelinek to finish off the guests. Seventh grader Tatum Devlin swished 2 free throws and the Academy went on for the 56 to 11 victory.
CRAW 2 4 0 5 11
SA 25 8 15 8 56
Scoring for Alliance Cody 16 Johnson 13 Kappius 10 Dibrito 4 Myers 3 Red Nest 2 Devlin 2 Collins 2 Finkey 2 Jelinek 2
Ten fourth quarter points by Crawford helped the Rams pull away for a 23 to15 win in the nightcap. Action was even in the first with the Academy netting 7 points and the guests scoring 6. Four early points by Pena help the Academy take an early advantage. A bucket by Kappius and a free throw by Tee Johnson finished the quarter scoring with SA up 7 to 6. Defenses were stout in the second. Crawford surge ahead by shutting out the Academy in the period while scoring 3. At half, the Rams were out in front 9 to 7. The lone score of the third came from Kappius and the game went to the fourth with Crawford up 13 to 9. Ten Ram tallies would put the contest away in the finale. St. Agnes would get 4 points from Estevane Acosta and a hoop from Ashton Weingart in the quarter. Final Crawford 23 Alliance 15
CRAW 6 3 4 10 23
SA 7 0 2 6 15
Scoring Estevane Acosta 4 Pena 4 Kappius 4 Weingart 2 Tee Johnson 1
St. Agnes hosted Scottsbluff on Saturday.