Vann’s the man in win
DALE CITY This time around, Chris Vann made sure his shot, not his feet, did the talking against Stonewall Jackson.
A month after hitting what would have been a game-tying shot against the Raiders instead his feet were on the line Vann poured in a career-high 36 points in a 80-60 thrashing of the visitors on Tuesday. Vann scored 22 points in the first half, was 14-for-19 from the field and hit a season-high six 3-pointers in the victory.
Vann quickly got in the flow of things offensively once the game started, but was a little unsure how his shot would be after a Monday visit to the weight room.
“I was worried at first about being too strong with my shot, but I was feeling it tonight,” said Vann, who also grabbed five rebounds.
In the first game between Stonewall Jackson (8-10) and Gar-Field this year on Jan. 7, the Raiders won a nip-and-tuck affair, 58-57. Vann went for 21 that night but he came up a point short, and he knew it despite the fans’ protests.
“I knew myself [that it was a two-pointer] but other people said it was a three,” Vann said. “I was just quiet.”
On Tuesday, the Indians needed no such heroics. Gar-Field (10-7) raced to a 10-point advantage, saw it sliced to 36-32 on a 11-5 Raiders’ run at the end of the half and then expanded it to 15 points [58-43] at the end of the third quarter. The closest the Raiders came in the fourth quarter was 58-46.
The Indians succeeded in part, thanks to another tremendous effort defensively by Chris Doss, who was guarding Raiders senior guard Tyc Snow. Stonewall’s top scorer at 17.4 points per contest through the first 16 games, Snow made just four free throws in the first half and finished with 12 points on 2-for-10 shooting.
“We wanted to pressure them and get the ball out of Tyc Snow’s hands and that was basically it,” Vann said.
Doss also scored 17 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while teammate Dee Howard added 14 points and seven rebounds. Kirsten McCane added four points and eight rebounds.
For Stonewall, Adam Woodward had 11 points and Onyie Onunaku 10.