Lake Norman Christian beats Victory Christian in thrilling overtime win
Lake Norman Christian 60
Victory Christian 57
Lake Norman Christian travelled to Victory Christian and came away with a thrilling 60-57 overtime win. This was supposed to be a home game for Lake Norman Christian, but a broken backboard moved the game to Victory Christian. Earlier in the month, Victory Christian beat Lake Norman Christian 76-73.
Victory Christian came into the contest with a 16-6 record, with loses coming to nationally ranked and high-level teams, such as, Liberty Heights, Carmel Christian, IMG Academy, VRP, Grayson, and Legacy Academy. On the other hand, Lake Norman Christian entered the game with a 13-4 record, with loses coming to Oak Hill Academy, Sunrise Christian, Kell High School and Victory Christian. Riding a five-game win streak, Lake Norman Christian started slowly and trailed 34-26 at the half. Lake Norman Christian had a huge third quarter outscoring Victory Christian 19-9 and taking a 45-43 lead into the fourth quarter. Both teams had ample opportunities to secure the win in regulation so it was only fitting the game went into overtime. With two seconds remaining, 5’10 ’23 Trey Green nailed a 3-pointer for the winning margin. Now, let’s take a closer look at the standout performances.
6’11 2021 Jonathan Kurtas (Lake Norman Christian)
Simply put, Jonathan Kurtas was outstanding on both ends of the court. He finished with 18 points and unofficial 12 rebounds. Kurtas blocked multiple shots in the paint, but more importantly altered and provided a constant defensive presence in the paint. Kurtas was consistent and effective from start to finish. He has excellent hands, good footwork and plays with energy and enthusiasm. (Game MVP)
5’11 2023 Trey Green (Lake Norman Christian)
Trey Green provided us a typical Trey Green performance. The quick and crafty point guard made one tough shot after another. He has excellent body control and made several acrobatic shots in the paint. More importantly, Green hit the game winning 3-pointer with two seconds remaining. In our opinion, if the season ended today, Green would get our nod as the team’s MVP. He has been terrific, consistent and most of all been the team’s best player on this loaded and stacked team. Green finished with a team high 20 points including three 3-pointers.
6’6 2022 Lewis Duarte (Victory Christian)
Lewis Duarte has a unique blend of athleticism and a matching skill set. Duarte may just be the most athletic player in the state for his class. He has bounce, explosiveness, but is as smooth and fluid as they come, not to mention he can transition into the point guard position. Duarte finished with a game high 21 points, but is also too unselfish at times.
6’10 2021 Deiman Reyes (Victory Christian)
Deiman Reyes is physically strong and creates a tremendous presence in the paint. Reyes finished with eight points and unofficial ten rebounds. While Reyes is still somewhat raw offensively, it can’t go unnoticed that his sheer size can create problems on both ends of the court.
Two class acts
In a game where you wish both teams walked away with a win, we have to congratulate both coaches on their professionalism, bench demeanor and coaching ability. Watching Coach Marcus Dilligard (Victory Christian) and Pat McCarthy (Lake Norman Christian), you understand they are what’s good about high school basketball. For Coach Dilligard, he has played one of the toughest schedules in the state, but more importantly is extremely humble when his team wins and is even more gracious in defeat.
For Coach McCarthy, he is currently 6-1 as head coach for Lake Norman. It’s ever easy taking over a team midseason and to make matters worse, his first official game as head coach came against Victory Christian on January 12th. Last week, Lake Norman Christian won an impressive overtime road win against Word of God and then got revenge by beating a very talented Victory Christian in overtime. To put it mildly, Coach McCarthy has done a masterful job since taking over the reigns of Lake Norman Christian.