The Gatewood Gators basketball team played three times in the past week and now sports a perfect 4-0 record.
Following a 76-26 win at home over John Hancock Academy last Monday at home, the Gators embarked on a four-game road run that opened last Tuesday with a relatively tight 58-53 win over Augusta Prep Day.
The team followed up on a visit to nearby Monticello last Friday with a 74-41 victory over Piedmont Academy before a Saturday morning trip to Milledgeville, where Gatewood laid an 80-29 defeat on the Georgia Military Academy Bulldogs. Next is a trip to Macon on Tuesday night (after press time) to take on Mount de Sales Academy.
Junior Matt Allen continues to lead in scoring for the Gators, dropping 30 points in the most recent game against GMC. JT Gregory was next on the list with 15 points, and Kaden Keiser \scored double digits with 14 points.
The game was never in question.
Gatewood led 21-9 after the first quarter and 44-16 at the half. By the end of the third quarter, the Gators were up 70-28, and head coach Don Keiser had his underclassmen play to gain valuable game experience.
“I emptied the bench in the fourth quarter, and everybody got to play,” Keiser confirmed.
Looking back to the narrow victory over the Cavaliers in Augusta, Keiser said the Gators routinely seem to have trouble there.
“I’m not sure why, but it’s always been strange for us to play there. We’ve never really played a good game there, but I thought we were about to open it up when we were up by 12 with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and then they came back,” Keiser recalled. “We weren’t hitting our free throws at all. As a matter of fact, we missed 13 free throws in the fourth quarter. But it turned out Matt had 32 points, and Kaden had a triple-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. So not bad, really.”
In front of a boisterous crowd that included many of the Gatewood faithful at rival Piedmont Academy, Gatewood held a slim 14-12 lead after the opening quarter and was up only 28-23 at halftime. However, by the end of the third, the Gators held a comfortable 64-32 lead heading into the final quarter. Again, Keiser played most of his bench to finish out the game with a 74-41 final score.
“That’s always an exciting place for us to play. We’re just 18 miles apart, so no matter whether it’s at home or in Monticello, there’s always lots of opposing fans in the grandstand, so it’s usually a lot of fun,” the coach said.
However, he admitted he wasn’t looking forward to being back on the court in game mode just a few hours later against GMC.
“I was a little worried about that,” Keiser said. “I didn’t know how we were going to react after playing Friday night and then having to get up to play at 11 o’clock in the morning. But I was very happy with the way they responded. They didn’t look tired at all.”
Allen started sharply, scoring 13 points in the opening quarter, while Kaden Keiser struck with a pair of 3-pointers. Gregory got going in the second quarter, contributing six points from the floor and two good free throws. Keiser said he’s happy to see his team leaders step up and show everyone how it’s done.
“The main thing I want to emphasize is they’re finally looking like I expected this year,” Keiser said. “It’s just a fun team to coach. It’s a lot of fun when they’re hitting on all cylinders like this. It’s a fun team to watch when they’re running, and things are going well like that.”