Grapevine Faith edges out Dallas Christian in TAPPS boys basketball regional showdown

Grapevine Faith hit two big three-pointers to get close then made five of six free throws in the final 35 seconds to down Dallas Christian 52-48 in a hard fought boys TAPPS Class 5A Regional basketball game Saturday afternoon at Grace Prep Academy.

Faith (24-8) advances to the state semifinals and will face District 1-5A rival Fort Worth Christian (23-9) who won 75-69 over McKinney Christian. Faith and FWC split the season series with each team winning by nine points in their home gyms.

It was clear from the start that No. 4 Dallas Christian and No. 7 Grapevine Faith would attack the game from drastically different perspectives.

Faith wanted to use its shooting prowess to try to rain three pointers down on the Chargers and use its transition game to get to the basket.

Dallas Christian (15-13) was more than happy to take advantage of its size and pound the ball down low on the Lions.

Faith has one player over 6-2 in 6-4 sophomore Luke Stiefel while the Chargers rotate players 6-7, 6-5 and two at 6-4.

Both defenses played well enough to help keep the other team from imposing its will as neither team was able to lead by more than three points the entire first half. Faith led 24-23 at the intermission and there were 11 lead changes in the first two quarters.

Faith missed its first three shots of the game, all from three-point range, but Josh Davis, who scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the first half, kept the Lions in the contest.

Davis did make one three, but the majority of his points came on lay ups.

“We definitely had to change our game plan, “ said Davis who added six rebounds, four assists and two steals. “We had to get bigger on the boards, especially with this team because they’re huge.

“We had to push the pace and make their big guys run down the floor and score in transition a lot. I think that’s where we scored most of our points.”

“He jumps off his outside foot so it’s off the normal rhythm of a normal layup and it kind of catches them off guard,” added Grapevine Faith coach Matt Sayman. “He’s super skilled and really athletic, but he’s also a great teammate and a willing passer so he’s a really fun guy to play with.”

The Lions built an eight-point lead, 31-23, to start the second half as sophomore Grant Rein went on a personal 7-0 scoring run. Rein, who pitched in 12 points, scored nine of the first 11 points of the third quarter.

“The game was super intense and credit to them, they played their hats off,” said Rein. “They’re really big so we all had to crash the boards and had to contribute. I just added fire to the fuel to begin that quarter and we came out with the win at the end.”

But Dallas Christian battled back behind play-making point guard Shon Coleman who scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half.

Johnny Morris’ short banker off an assist by Coleman gave the Chargers a 40-39 lead with 5:51 left in the game. Morris had nine points for DC.

The eight-point deficit turned into a five-point lead when Coleman and Andrew Potts hit back-to-back threes to give Dallas Christian a 46-41 lead with 4:47 left.

Dallas Christian had missed its first 22 attempts from behind the arc and made 2 of 26 for the game. Faith hit 5 of 26 threes.

Max Hyman answered the Potts three with one of his own to cut the lead to two points. Following a pair of made free throws by Morris, Ryan Blevins hit another big three for the Lions to pull to within 48-47 with 2:59 left.

With a one-point lead, Dallas Christian milked the clock and only attempted one three pointer and had two missed free throws before Blevins was fouled with 35 seconds left and drained both free throws to give Faith a 49-48 lead.

The Chargers had a turnover and missed another three while Faith hit three of its last four free throws the rest of the way. The Chargers didn’t score in the final 3:54 of the game.

“I loved the response that we had at the beginning of the third quarter,” said Sayman. “I thought that we won the first three minutes, but then we lost it.

“I thought that late in the fourth quarter when Dallas Christian hit a couple of threes that some teams would fall apart at that point. But they just stayed tough, they stayed present and made some free throws when it really mattered.”

Neither team shot well from beyond the arc, but Faith did hit 13 of 28 (46%) on its twos. The Chargers’ big men did give DC a 48-36 rebounding edge with 20 of the 48 being offensive. Brett Judd led the way with 13 boards.

Stiefel was huge for Faith in countering the Chargers’ size recording 13 rebounds to go with his eight points.

“If you came and watched the game it was a fun, tough and gritty performance,” said Sayman. “My hats off to Dallas Christian and Coach (Brandon) George and I’m just blessed to get to coach these guys again.”