Indian Creek avenged an earlier loss to Gerstell Academy and locked up the top seed for the MIAA C Conference basketball playoffs, Friday night, with a 52-47 victory over visiting Gerstell Academy.
It was senior night at ICS and the Eagles had all four of their seniors in the starting lineup. Indian Creek may have been a little too amped up early and its offense struggled in the first half as a result. Gerstell’s Joe Robinson, however, shined in the first half, scoring 15 of his 17 points in the first two quarters, to stake the Falcons to 26-22 lead at the intermission.
The game remained close for most of the second half, but Indian Creek (14-8, 13-3) took the lead for good late in the fourth quarter on back-to-back baskets by freshman Dominic Day. Another Eagle freshman, Devin Garrett, scored seven points in the final quarter as ICS open a 50-44 lead before closing out the five point victory.
Junior Derron Morgan led Indian Creek with 17 points.
Indian Creek will enter the playoffs as the top seed for a second straight year. They lost last year’s championship game to St. John’s Catholic Prep. The Vikings also finished 13-3 in the conference this year, but came up short to the Eagles in the tie-breakers, so they will be seeded second in the post-season. Both teams will have first round byes and host semifinal playoff games on Friday.
Gerstell (8-9, 8-8), despite the loss, is in the playoffs as the sixth seed and will visit third-seeded Cristo Rey on Wednesday in one quarterfinal game. Fourth-seeded Key will host Park School in the other quarterfinal. The Cristo Rey/Gerstell winner will travel to St. John’s on Friday, while Indian Creek will host the Key/Park survivor.
