The San Quentin Warriors fell short to the Christian Ministry’s Green Team, 90-83, in the season finale.
Christian Ministry took a 20-point lead in the second quarter, with the score 45-25. The Warriors played with great energy and effort, closing the gap to within five by the fourth quarter, with a minute left. However, with time running out, they had to foul to stop the clock and the Green Team kept the lead and got the win by hitting the free throws.
When his team was down 20 with four minutes left in the second quarter, Warriors Coach Daniel Wright called a timeout. “I can only tell y’all what to do. I can’t do it for you. You gotta play some defense,” he told his team.
The Warriors responded, causing the Green Team to turn the ball over 28 times, getting 18 steals and eight blocks. Former overseas 6-foot-8 pro-player Ted Hahs, who scored 29 points in his last appearance, was held to 16 by keeping him out of the paint and Greg Eskridge’s blocks.
“Keep a body on Ted; wear him down,” Wright told his team pre-game.
“They played tough defense,” Hahs complimented afterwards.
Hahs, who played pro in Portugal, returned with David King, Ben Ilegbodu, Mark Ivy, Mike Cussary, Brandon Curtis, and Bill Epling, who couldn’t play due to breaking a finger in a game against the Kings on Nov. 2.
The Warriors started strong. Montrell Vines hit two three-pointers back-to-back. Anthony Ammons registered a double-double, with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Rafael Cuevas did well at the point guard spot, logging in nine assists, eight steals and eight rebounds with only two turnovers.
However, the Warriors offensive was off in the first half. Vines went cold after hitting his first two shots, finishing three for 11 for a total of nine points. Allan McIntosh only hit one out of his first 10 shots, but heated up in the second half, scoring 17 with 11 rebounds.
“We ain’t played in awhile. We ain’t been practicing,” McIntosh explained about his slow start.
The Warriors ended up down 10 at the half, 48-38.
During halftime, both teams circled around center court for the visitors’ religious message. Epling told the joke about how God would rather grant a request to build a bridge to Hawaii than grant a wish to explain women.
King called playing against the Warriors “near the top of my list as career highlights — closest to college ball,” since winning a Division 2 title as a sophomore. King gave inspirational encouragement based on Romans 8:38-39. “Nothing we’ve done can stop God from loving us,” King said.
“We appreciate everything that you do—giving up your Saturday mornings, giving us tennis shoes. Y’all are our homies. We can’t thank you enough,” Wright told Epling.
“The church gave money; don’t give me the credit,” Epling responded.
After the good-natured halftime moment, the friendly rivalry continued.
King burned Ammons inside for a layup. Ammons responded on the next play by going strong to the rack for the inside layup on King. Franklin, who started, came off the bench after a rest and played hard, ending up with 21 points.
Ivy posted a strange triple-double, with 10 points, 15 rebounds and 10 turnovers. He also had six assists. “Mark, you’re not Magic Johnson!” Ilegbodu yelled from the bench when Ivy got his nine turnovers in the Nov. 16 game.
Vines kept Ilegbodu out of the paint; however, Ilegbodu adjusted his game with outside shooting. Ilegbodu finished with 27 points, including six 3-pointers.
“We matched their intensity and that enabled us to pull out the win,” Ilegbodu said. “God gives me the ability to play. This might be my last game for a while ‘cause I’m having a baby. I wanted it to be a good one.”
King finished with 29 points and 20 rebounds. “I don’t know how they let me do that. They took it easy on me today,” he humbly joked.
The Warriors finished the season down six games at 10-4 against Christian Ministry. “I look forward to tryouts next year, when I pick the next Warriors team. We’ll have a whole new attitude,” Wright said.
-Rudy Moralez contributed to this story
