Tri-City Christian Academy

We have a GREAT Guys Basketball team this year. We are ranked #1 in the state with some great talent and work ethic as well as two great coaches! Here is the latest report!

On Friday night, Tri-City Christian hosted Precision HS in a rematch of last season's MLK Classic featured matchup. The Panthers won that game 62-57 led by their star guard Montrail Johnson's who scored 42 points. Johnson returned for Precision this season as well as three of their other top players from last year. The Panthers got off to a strong start jumping out to a quick 7-2 lead as they ran a box and one defense on the Warriors leading scorer Brock Gardner. Tri-City adjusted and started attacking the paint with dribble pe*******on which led to some easy baskets and the Panthers big men getting into foul trouble. The Warriors also tightened up on the defensive end as it was clear that Johnson was going to try to duplicate last season's performance. Tri-City's help side defense was excellent as big man Nigel Shadd erased anything that came in the paint and all five defenders swarmed to Johnson. After being down 7-2, Tri-City went on an unbelievable 27-0 run to take control of the game. The Warriors went into the half with a 34-13 advantage. After the break, Tri-City continued their strong play making it difficult for Johnson on defense and executing well on the offensive end. Precision switched to a man to man defense and the Warriors ran a beautiful pick and roll as Gardner found Shadd for a dunk. They went on to execute multiple sets capped by a nice alley oop two handed dunk by Gardner. Tri-City scored 27 points in the 3rd giving them a 61-25 lead heading in to the 4th. With the lead over 30, the game went to a running clock in the final frame. Tri-City (8-1) won the game 72-31 in their most complete game of the season on both ends of the court. Five Warriors scored 7 or more in the game led by Gardner's 28 points. Shadd finished with 16, Josh Delos-Santos 10, Jacob Christensen 7, AJ Brown 7 and Isaiah Crandall 4. Crandall did an excellent job guarding Johnson who still managed to score 20 points on the night but it took him 30+ shots to get it. Thanks to the fans who made it out to the game. Next week is Spirit Week with a home game on Tuesday and HOMECOMING on Thursday night vs. EVAC in what is always a fun matchup.

Thanks to all the alumni who made it out to Tri-City today for the games. It was fun to see so many faces and relive some fun memories from over the years. Players from four decades were in the gym as well as many of the uniforms they wore along the way. There were some serious antiques out there and many walked away with their old jerseys from basketball, volleyball or cheer. (Please post any ALUMNI SELFIES as I know some of you are going to be putting those babies on) On to the games.....The ladies started off the night strong for the alumni as they used their aggressive style of play to pull away from the HS ladies. Alumni 47, HS 23. In the guys game, the HS were without three of their normal starters and the alumni took advantage jumping out to a huge early lead. The alumni nailed outside shot after shot and completely shut down the HS offense jumping out to a 26-8 lead. The HS guys fought back capped by Junior Jacob Christensen's made 40 ft 3 point shot at the buzzer. That cut the alumni lead to 33-27 at the half. Brock Gardner showed up at halftime providing another body for the HS. It was sophomore big man Nigel Shadd who sparked the HS offense early in the 3rd. He battled against some big bodies from the past but was able to finish in the paint. That opened up the outside for the HS who started hitting 3s, led by Junior AJ Brown. AJ hit 4 3s on the night. The alumni answered with 3 different decades of alumni hitting 3s but the HS had wrestled the lead away from the alumni. Both teams went back and forth as the alumni cut the lead to 5 after an Eric Hathaway 3 from the corner but that was as close as the alumni would get. The HS held on for a 77-67 win in a very competitive and well played alumni game. Both teams shot the ball well from the 3 pt line and there were some serious battles in the paint. Nigel even caught a body or two (we won't name any names) with a couple big dunks in the lane throughout the game. It was a fun night and a great chance for our HS guys to get better. The HS had their best shooting game of the season from the outside and really had to fight back shorthanded against a quality opponent. Thanks to all of the alumni, players and fans, who made the event a successful one. The Warrior tradition we have is unique and it is special to have so many former players get together to interact with our current teams. Hope to see you out at some games in 2015. Have a safe and happy New Year!

The TCA BASKETBALL season is well underway! The guys team is shooting for an unprecedented third state championship in a row! Come out and catch both girls and guys games this season.

This Veteran's Day Sunday at Tri-City we will have a Lt Col Chaplain who is a Ranger and has 5 Bronze stars for valor under fire. He will be speaking at 10:30am this Sunday. Don't miss it!

Tonight is Family Fun Night from 6pm to 8:30pm. We have a petting zoo, bouncy house, many, many games and a LOT of candy for kids in a very safe and family friendly environment.

Our enrollment is up this year over last year. That is quite amazing with so many choices in education in Arizona! We have an incredibly strong team of teachers and staff along with tremendous spiritual and academic growth!

We were blessed this week to see four young people accept Christ as Savior. During our first week of school, two teens accepted Christ as Savior! That is what makes all the sacrifice of our school so worthwhile!

We are having a great year at the Academy with 310 kids enrolled. We are excited to have so many young people to serve.

Tomorrow night is a great music and drama program at Tri-City at 7pm!