The Stallions basketball team from Queens Grant High School defeated the Covenant Day Lions 53-47 in their season opener.  The Stallions started off fast with an 11-2 run in the first period to set the pace for the first half.

Jah’Quez Sanders and Jeremiah Murphy were dominate as they consistently applied pressure and pulled down some key rebounds for the Stallions.  Khalil Chapman and LB Boyette made solid contributions as well throughout the entire contest.

The first half ended with the Stallions leading 28-14 and Jah’Quez Sanders with 10 points for the victors.  The flow of game was completely in favor of the Stallions who definitely set the tempo of the game.

However, in the second half the Stallions came out flat and gave a spark to the Lions when sophomore standout Drew Patterson started to hit his shots more consistently and was getting fouled.  He ended the game shooting 10-11 from the free throw line to keep the Lions close within striking distance as they outscored the Stallions 16-12 in the third period and 17-13 in the fourth period.

Meanwhile, senior Forward/Center AJ Gallagher was playing with an injured knee and had limited playing time.  He is a solid player with a nice soft left handed shot who has the ability to be dominating under the boards.  Physically, he has a college ready body and will hopefully recover over the next 4-5 weeks if the Stallions are going to make a real run this season.  This writer believes Coach Forsythe’s team will need his presence in the middle when they go up against tougher competition.

Going down the stretch both Sanders and Murphy made some key baskets for the Stallions as the Lions nibbled at their lead cutting it down to 5 points with 1:38 seconds on the game board clock in period 4.  A key play was a nice sweet power move by Sanders with under thirty seconds remaining in the game when he drove down the middle making a high flying layup off the backboard and drawing a foul.  He nailed the free throw to make the three point play to give the Stallions some breathing room.

The Lions tried to counter only to come up short and trade free throws with the Stallions who held on for the non-conference win on the road.