Bloodsaw milestone comes as Rams win
Tyner senior Nehemiah Bloodsaw is a mismatch against nearly any guard he faces.
Bloodsaw was a force again in several ways Friday, when the Rams clinched the District 4-AA regular-season championship by avenging an earlier loss to Arts & Sciences with a 51-44 home win on senior night.
With the Rams down 8-0 to the Patriots, whose Justin Brown impressed with six first-quarter points, Bloodsaw gave his team its first basket on a tough finish in the paint off an assist from senior Nick Smith. The 6-foot-2 guard’s score put him over 1,000 career points.
A great find on a bounce pass through traffic from Bloodsaw to senior Josh Jackson gave Tyner (17-7, 7-1) its first lead early in the second quarter. Bloodsaw finished with a game-high 16 points, scoring half of those in the fourth quarter.
“Nehemiah is a big, strong, physical guard,” Rams coach E’Jay Ward said. “He delivers the mail for us when he gets going downhill. He got big buckets for us again tonight and was very unselfish with some great finds he had to his teammates.”
The Patriots (18-9, 5-3) were sparked by Trent Grudzinski, whose offensive rebound and layup at the end of the third quarter began a stretch when he scored nine straight points for the visitors. Grudzinski hit a 3-pointer off a nice pass from Jarius Cameron in transition to cut the deficit to 31-30.
A block by Tyner senior Biship Smith was a key play late, and Bloodsaw had a nice spin move into the paint for a layup and a 44-36 lead for the home team with less than two minutes left. Tyner sophomore Rodney Henderson was 5-of-6 on free throws late and scored nine points in the second half to finish with 14.
Next week, the Rams will turn their attention to the postseason.