Gross scored a career-high 18 points, and the Eagles forged a second-half comeback to beat the Cincinnati Christian Cougars 57-52 on Tuesday night in front of a boisterous home crowd.
“It just felt like one of those nights,” said Gross, who averages 3.5 points a game. “You just got to come out and play. It was a great team game, and we’ve got to keep moving on to Friday.”
Gross drained a 3-pointer to give Middletown Christian its first lead at 52-49 with 2:10 left, and the Eagles were able to hang on from there.
“Oh yeah, I knew it,” Gross said of how confident he was after releasing the long-range shot. “I don’t feel my 3s a lot, but I felt this one.
“I said, ‘You know what, I’m just going to walk back in acting like I’m normal at this.’ That’s what happened.”
Caleb Skaggs had 14 points for MCS, while Peniel Enninful added 11 and Josh Prows 10. The Eagles were without offensive threat and senior Manning Miller — who averages 9.1 points a contest.
CCS senior Branden Cox led all scorers with 19 points, and Jonathon Maru chipped in with 13.
“We knew that we were going to play from behind because they have a 1,000-point scorer, Cox, and we didn’t have our leading scorer tonight,” Middletown Christian first-year coach Ryan Fairchild said. “It was like if you looked at our stats, we had to play collectively to win tonight, and that’s what we did.”
Both programs were searching for much-needed wins as the postseason tournament draw takes place on Sunday.
The Eagles (5-13) snapped a three-game losing streak but have lost eight of their last 10.
“My message to our kids all year is, ‘Keep believing. You’re great kids. You’re coachable and work so hard,’” Fairchild said. “I said, ‘Good people that do things right, success is going to happen.’ They’re right at the door, and I think we knocked through the door tonight with them.”
The Cougars (6-12), who have lost six of their last seven, moved out to an 8-0 lead before the Eagles got on the board when Gross hit a jumper with 2:45 left in the first quarter.
“We had a very good start,” Cincinnati Christian coach Brian Gunter said. “All of a sudden, for some reason, we kind of settled.
“These are great kids. They’re great kids, but we have to realize what a good game shot is and what is not. We’ve got to follow shots. We’ve got to get on the boards. It’s like we got hands on it, and we didn’t secure the basketball.”
The Cougars led 19-4 heading into the second quarter and 32-22 at the half. But the Eagles started chipping away. MCS outscored CCS 35-20 in the final two quarters.
“We didn’t defend,” Gunter said. “We didn’t make shots. We kept them around. They deserved everything they got. We struggled with blocking out on free throws. They got four second-chance points just on free throws.
“Until we do those things and have the urgency coming out of this locker room,” Gunter added. “We talked about that. Even though we’re up 10, the score is zeroes at half. We split it into four fours. We want to try and win three out of four fours. We kept them in, and they knocked down shots.
“We came to their house. They took care of their house. We didn’t have an answer.”
Cincinnati Christian returns to Miami Valley Conference play at New Miami on Friday. Middletown Christian has a stretch of three games in five days on the road — starting with Metro Buckeye Conference rival Dayton Christian on Friday.
About the Author