Trinity Rocks, Moore Mustangs ride fast starts to victory in LIT semis

Apparently, the Jeffersontown and Ballard boys’ basketball teams didn’t get an early wake-up call for Saturday’s semifinals of the Republic Bank/Coca-Cola Louisville Invitational Tournament.

Trinity, the top seed and No. 1 in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings, broke a 2-2 tie with a 17-0 streak to breeze past No. 8 J’town 70-40 in Bellarmine University’s Knights Hall. Darryl Hicks and Charles Foster each scored six points in that run and finished with 16 and 11.

Foster, a 6-foot-1 senior guard headed for Morehead State University, added five rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots for Trinity (14-2).

“Foster was great with his defense,” said coach Mike Szabo, who guided the Shamrocks to LIT titles in 2005 and 2010. “We really feed off his energy. He’s very quick and he plays very hard. Hicks can shoot, and that helped.”

Moore, which won its only LIT crown in 1980, reached its first final since then by jumping ahead of four-time champion Ballard 18-7, then holding on to win 57-55. William Bryant, a rugged 6-4 senior forward, had 17 points and 17 rebounds for the Mustangs (16-3).

Moore coach Shedrick Jones didn’t have to do anything special to get his players fired up.

“They were focused back at school and on the bus before we left,” he said. “This is the first time Moore’s won a game in this building. We always lost in the first game of the regional here. That’s why I’m proud of this team.”

Trinity 70, J’town 40: The Shamrocks hit 9 of 12 shots in the first quarter, with Miles Rice knocking down two threes. J’town closed within 24-14 on a basket by Daniel Ross, but Nathan Dieudonne’s dunk and Foster’s goal ended an 8-0 run that made it 32-14 at halftime.

Hicks and Foster each grabbed five rebounds, but reserve Andrew Perito led the Rocks with eight. Hicks hit 6 of 12 shots, including 4 of 7 threes, and Dieudonne canned 4 of 6 shots for his eight points. Trinity shot 53.8 percent.

J’town (13-6), which got eight points and 10 rebounds from Greg Minor, shot only 28.3 percent and made 1 of 13 threes to Trinity’s 7 of 16.

Moore 57, Ballard 55: The Mustangs led 48-36 midway through the fourth quarter, but Quentin Snider sparked the Bruins’ comeback. A three by Lavonne Holland pulled Ballard within 52-47 with 30.7 seconds left.

Moore nearly let the game slip away by missing 15 of 28 free throws — 11 in the last quarter and seven in the final minute. Snider, a sophomore who has committed to the University of Louisville, scored 16 of his 19 points in the final period, including a 9-for-9 mark at the foul line.

Fouled on a 3-point try, Snider swished all three free throws to slice Moore’s lead to 55-52 with 0:06.4 left, but Mekale McKay (14 points and five rebounds) hit 1 of 2 foul shots for a 56-52 edge. Snider countered with a three, but Daquan Boyd wrapped it up with a free throw at 0:00.4.