Gallery: Vanguard Loses To P.K. Yonge in the Kingdom Tournament

The Vanguard Knights were coming off an emotional win against rival North Marion and had to face off with the P.K. Yonge Blue Wave on Wednesday night.

P.K. Yonge came out firing from long range as Randall Robinson (11 points, three rebounds and three steals) hit a three-pointer and Anthony Delucas followed with a pair of three-pointers of his own to give the Blue Wave a 9-4 lead after three minutes.

The remainder of the first quarter was a back-and-forth battle as Jewmaris Jones (14 points, six rebounds and two assists), Cameron Powell (Eight points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals) and Isaiah Bethea (four points, 11 rebounds) all scored for Vanguard in the final four minutes of the opening quarter. P.K. Yonge got points from Isaiah Cooper (six points, three rebounds and two blocks), Elijah Harris and Moses Horne (team-high 20 points) to give their team a 15-10 lead.

Vanguard opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run aided by a three-pointer from Jemiah Gallion (team-high 16 points) and a pair of slick layups from Rickey Harrell (four points, three steals and two rebounds).

Horne would answer with a nice putback on a rebound to give P.K. Yonge the lead with five minutes left in the half. Horne’s basket kickstarted the P.K. Yonge offense as they scored 10 points over the final 4 minutes and change of the second quarter.

Scoring during the stretch for P.K. Yonge was Horne and Robinson, who both sank three-pointers from the left side. Vanguard somewhat kept pace as Jones hit five free throws over the final couple minutes before the half.

The balanced offensive attack for P.K. Yonge was evident from start to finish as seven different players scored. Head coach Boderick Johnson said that he expected this scoring by committee after having to replace two starters from last year’s team.

“It’s fantastic, everybody has an opportunity to contribute, and other teams can’t key in on one player and shut us down.” Johnson said.

P.K. Yonge carried a six-point lead out of halftime and added to it with a nice 12-foot jumper from Caleb Warren and a layup from Horne to extend the lead to 10 within the first three minutes of the third quarter.

Vanguard trimmed the deficit down to seven after a nifty left-handed layup from Gallion but P.K Yonge answered with six unanswered points from Horne and Chancellor Wims to take a 39-26 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Things looked dire for Vanguard as P.K. Yonge stretched the lead to 15 in opening seconds of the fourth quarter but Vanguard put the pressure on thanks to a 11-foot jumper by Jones and a three from right corner by Gallion.

Powell would hit both of his free throws to trim P.K. Yonge’s lead to five with 4:27 left to go. As they did all night, P.K. Yonge would answer and stretched the lead back to 11 after a layup by Robinson and two made free throws from Horne.

Each time it seemed like Vanguard got on a run and could come back to take the lead, P.K. Yonge would step up and make big plays to bring momentum back to their side.

Gallion hit another three-pointer from the right corner but Horne was right there with another good-looking jumper from 13 feet away to keep the lead in the double digits. Vanguard would get the deficit back down to five on points from Jones, Gallion and Powell but Horne would seal the 53-46 win with a couple of free throws with 12 seconds left.

Johnson was pleased with the win and says the team will be ready for their semi-final match against Olympia on Thursday at 7:30.

“The team effort was there and we played with a purpose, we played more connected offensively and defensively. We going to do our best to game plan in preparation for tomorrow and see what happens.” Johnson said.

Vanguard head coach Todd Davis was optimistic in his post-game interview and gave credit to P.K. Yonge and how well they played in the pressure situations but felt his team could have played better.

“We were just flat tonight for some reason, tonight we just didn’t have it. It’s the Kingdom of the Sun and we shouldn’t be talking like that but that’s how it is. Tomorrow, we got another game and we’ll come back out ready to go.” Davis said.

Davis added: “Tonight was one of those games we didn’t come with it and that starts with me. I have to do a better job of getting them motivated to go out and execute.”

Vanguard still can finish fifth in the tournament and will play Covington Catholic (Kentucky) on Thursday at 1 p.m.