Blessed Trinity proves too much for Heritage boys

Two decisive runs, one to start the game and one to start the third quarter, ultimately proved to be too much for the home team to overcome as the Heritage Generals saw their season end with a 78-50 loss to Blessed Trinity in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament on Friday.

The visiting Titans (20-9) went up 17-6 in the first five minutes of action, although the Generals fought back to close within six points at the end of the first quarter. A patented Cade Collins floater in the lane opened the second quarter and sliced the gap down to four, but Blessed Trinity would immediately answer with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to push the lead back up to 13.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Will Allen and Cooper Terry once again cut into the Titans’ lead, only to see the visitors respond with six unanswered points. But the Generals would get the final half-dozen points of the half, including a banked-in 3-pointer by Nolan Letzgus just before the horn that kept Heritage within striking distance, 34-27, at the break.

However, Blessed Trinity would come storming out of the locker room with a five-minute flurry that was eerily similar to the first five minutes of the game. The 16-2 run boosted the Titans’ lead to 20 and this time the Generals simply had no answer.

The visitors from Roswell would take a 56-35 lead into the fourth quarter and maintained at least a 20-point margin the rest of the way.

“Will hit some shots in that first half and we were able to stay with them a little bit, but that’s the best defense we’ve seen all year,” Heritage head coach Kevin Terry explained. “That league they play in down there is tough and we don’t see that type of defense night in and night out. They can guard one-on-one. They help out when they have to, but lots of time they don’t need to.

“I was proud of the guys for hanging around that first half. I wish we could have done a little bit more in the second half, but it is what it is. Blessed Trinity has a great team.”

Heritage’s five seniors, Allen, Letzgus, Walker Spruiell, Taylor Dyer and Clint Petteys would all re-enter the game together with three minutes to play, only to exit as a group moments later to a big thank-you from the Heritage home crowd.

Letzgus finished with 15 points for the Generals (17-12), followed by Allen with 10, all coming in the first half. Collins went for seven points and Terry hit for five. Spruiell finished with three points, while Petteys, Carter Bell, Cade Kiniry, Kobe McAllister and Nick Hanson all added two points apiece.

Andy Swade led the Titans with 20 points.

“This group of seniors is just a fantastic group of guys,” Terry added. “Yes they have a lot of basketball talent, but it’s more than that. They all have different avenues that they’re going to go into and they are all going to be successful. This was just a fun year. We didn’t have to worry about too much other than basketball.

“We’ve got some really good juniors and sophomores that’ll be back and a lot of players in our region will graduate this year. There’s a lot of seniors on other teams (in the region) so we’ll have some opportunities next year.”