By T. Scott Boatright
In a rollercoaster of a game, Choudrant turned things up a notch in the fourth quarter Monday night as the Aggies held on for a 56-50 home win over St. Frederick at the CHS Boys Gym.
The win pushed Choudrant to 13-7 on the season with the Aggies not slated to play again until the first weekend in January.
Against St. Frederick Monday night, the Warriors led 13-12 at the end of the opening stanza before the Aggies got hot in the second quarter, outscoring the Warriors 19-10 to build a 31-23 halftime advantage.
“It was a super exciting game and a great atmosphere,” Smith said. “The crowd brought it and our players fed off of that and played super intense from start to finish.
“That was a big win for us. A couple of weeks ago they beat us by 40, and when you lose to somebody by 40, it takes a disciplined, mature team to take a look inside themselves and come out and respond the way they did. I’m super proud of how they played and did that tonight for sure.”
Smith admitted the second-quarter surge game the Aggies bolstered confidence that helped them get through a tough third quarter during which the Warriors outscored Choudrant 17-7 to build a 40-38 advantage heading into the final stanza.
“The second quarter we just did a great job of matching up with them in our zone defense,” Smith said. “We just did a great job of not giving them easy shots. We knew they were a great 3-point shooting team. So going in the main message defensively was ‘no 3s.’
“We didn’t give up a 3-pointer the whole game. And they’re a team that has three or four guys that can really shoot it. That was a big key in us getting the win this time.”
Choudrant was down as many as six points in the fourth quarter before the Aggies made their move for the win.
“We actually pressed in the fourth quarter, which is something we typically don’t do,” Smith said. “But that ended up creating a couple of turnovers. Then Carson Carrico hit a big 3-pointer to cut St. Frederick’s lead to one point.
“Carson and Mike Jones hit some big free throws down the stretch.”
A miscue by the Warriors also helped the Aggies escape with the hard-fought win.
“Unfortunately for them, they had six players on the court and got hit with a technical foul,” Smith said. “Carson hit one of two of those free throws and then added a couple more later on. To have a sophomore you can count on to make those clutch free throws, and when you have the flexibility of having your big guys — in our case Mike and Lawson Stevens — push the ball down the court and make free throws, it’s quite the luxury.”
Jones led the Aggies with 25 points while Carrico added 17, including four 3-pointers.
Braden Soto chipped in with five points for Choudrant while Tredon Cage hit for four.
Next up for the Aggies is competing at St. Frederick’s Grady Jones Memorial Tournament on Jan. 6-7 with the Aggies facing D’Arbonne Woods on Jan. 6 before playing St. Frederick again on Jan. 7.
Grady Jones was the father of Choudrant principal Chris Jones and the grandfather of the Aggies’ Jones and his sister, Lady Aggies hoopster Sadie Jones.
