With 1:49 remaining in the game, the Meadowview Christian Trojans trailed by 11 points. 

When the final buzzer sounded, the Trojans were celebrating a 61-59 victory.

Sam Dabit’s three consecutive 3-pointers in the final minute of the fourth quarter gave Meadowview (12-7) a hard-fought comeback win over the Tuscaloosa Christian Warriors Friday night at home. Meadowview head coach John Robert Morton said he was so excited and proud of his players that he could barely form sentences after the game was over.

“This is my best comeback win that I’ve ever been a part of,” Morton said.

Although it couldn’t have ended better for Meadowview, the Trojans got out to a sluggish start. Justin McGuire, who led the team with 20 points, scored the first points for the Trojans with a two-point shot at 5:07 remaining in the first quarter.

Meadowview trailed 7-2, but a 10-4 run gave the Trojans their first lead of the game at 12-11 with 6:52 in the second quarter after McGuire scored on a steal and fastbreak layup.

Jevar McGuire followed with two consecutive layups to give Meadowview a 16-14 lead. Trailing 20-17, Dabit made a layup with 1:48 remaining in the first half and collected his own rebound on a foul shot and sank another layup to put the Trojans back in fron 21-20.

Tuscaloosa regained the lead, but Jeremy Lee tied it up again 24-24 with a 3-pointer late in the half. The Warriors led 26-24 at halftime and extended their lead to nine points with 2:11 left in the third quarter.

Garrett Grantham made a layup with under a minute left in the third quarter to cut the Tuscaloosa lead to 40-33, but the Warriors scored the final four points of the quarter to take a 44-33 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

Justin opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and Dabit followed with a layup bring the Trojans within eight points of the lead, trailing 46-38. Meadowview struggled to score down the stretch, falling behind 55-44 with under two minutes to play. Kaymon McGuire hit a layup with 1:49 remaining to give Meadowview some life.

Both teams traded baskets, but the Trojans still trailed 57-48 with just over a minute to play. Dabit drained one 3-pointer to make it 57-51. Tuscaloosa responded, but Dabit hit another 3-point shot to bring it to 59-54. With 24.2 seconds on the clock, Dabit splashed a third 3-pointer to cut the Warriors lead to 59-57.

“Sam Dabit can be unbelievable at times,” Morton said.

Ten seconds later, Kaymon scored on a putback layup to tie the game 59-59. Meadowview’s pressure defense caused the Trojans to get the ball back. Jevar got fouled with 10 seconds remaining and made both his free throws.

The Trojans’ defense held up on the final possession to stop the Warriors and complete the comeback.

“Everything just came together tonight,” Morton said. “Everything tonight was perfect.”

Meadowview hosts New Life Christian Tuesday.

If the Trojans win that game, they win their area. Morton is confident that the win Friday night will show his team that a game is never over until the clock hits zero.

“I’m proud of them. It takes a lot of teamwork, a lot of believing in one another in order to pull something like this off,” Morton said.

 

Meadowview 47, 

Tuscaloosa 19 (girls)

The Meadowview Trojans outscored the Tuscaloosa Warriors 19-3 in the second half on their way to a blowout victory over the Warriors at home Friday. Christina Dabit led all scorers with 16 points, including 12 points in the second quarter. Mallory Freine added 13 points for Meadowview.

“We played good defense today, ran the offense well and it was just a team effort tonight,” said Meadowview coach Scott Gunter.

The score was tied 7-7 at the end of the first quarter, but the Trojans didn’t let the Warriors score seven or more points in any of the remaining three quarters.

Dabit hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter to give Meadowview a 26-10 halftime lead.

The Trojans allowed just five points in the third quarter and led 37-15 with one period to play.  Nikita Miller outscored Tuscaloosa in the fourth quarter, as she put up six points while the Warriors mustered just four. Meadowview is in a tie for first place in the area with New Life Christian. The game between the teams Tuesday will go a long way in determining which team wins the area.