Trinity Classical Academy boys basketball’s Koby Schafer was closing in on the Knights’ record for single-game points on Tuesday night against Lancaster Baptist, and the Knights knew it.
“I realized that I was scoring a lot, so I didn’t really know how many I had, but I was keeping track of it, kind of,” Schafer said.
However, Schafer finished the game with 36 points, which is three points shy of the record of 39 (set by Noah Peterson on Feb. 9 last year against Valley Torah of Valley Village).
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“We know he could get it and seeing how close he got, one more shot could’ve gotten him to tie that,” said point guard Caden Kulp. “So it was definitely encouraging to see that, but it was a little upsetting how close he got and didn’t get there.”
Schafer’s hot hand had cooled off toward the end of the game, which partially prompted coach Tod Bernard to pull him from the game.
Bernard’s other motivation for taking Schafer out was that the Knights (8-16 overall, 3-6 in Heritage League) were on their way to a 76-41 win with a minute left to play and most of their starters still playing.
“We wanted him to get the record, but we were blowing them out so bad … and I know it rubbed the other team the wrong way,” Bernard said. “We had our top guys in, so I pulled him out and said we’ll go for it (on Thursday).
“It’s one of those situations where we didn’t look the best, even our starters, late in the game. But I wanted him to get the record and I knew if he had 39, he’d just tie it. So what was the point?”
Schafer made 11-of-23 shots overall with three steals and two rebounds. He was part of an offense that was clicking all around and not relying solely on their surging shooting guard.
Luke Masters finished with 13 points and Tyler Lee had 12.
“Just having an offensive mindset and making sure all of us are aggressive (was our focus), because if we just fed Koby the ball and all of us weren’t active scorers then the defense would just cover him,” Kulp said. “We had to play our roles still and make sure we were doing our responsibilities to get him open.”
Trinity plays Guidance Charter at The Master’s University tonight in its final Heritage League game of the season.
Schafer will be ready.
“I just want to have fun in the last game,” he said. “It’s probably my last game paying for Trinity, so I just want to have fun and try to break the record.”
Trinity girls hoops dominate
The Knights defeated Lancaster Baptist 48-32 on Tuesday night.
Taylor Oshiro led all scorers with 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Kathryn Brooks and Hannah Caddow each added six points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
The Knights are 11-8 overall and 3-4 in Heritage League play. They will host Guidance Charter on senior night at The Master’s University at 5:30 p.m. tonight.
