Sun Valley’s Blaize Eldridge puts up a shot in the first half as the Vanguards visited Delco Christian Wednesday and came away with a 64-63 win. (Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group)
By Matthew DeGeorge
Noah Griffin has been there before, but then, so has his Sun Valley basketball team.
Wednesday wouldn’t be the first time the Vanguards have seen a reversal of fortune in the fourth quarter of a tight game, for or against. It wouldn’t be the first time Griffin would shoulder the responsibility of the ball in his hands in the final seconds. And it wouldn’t be the first January in which a Sun Valley team has borne little resemblance to its shaggier December version.
For it all, Griffin was ready Wednesday. The guard scored Sun Valley’s final nine points, all in the last two minutes, to pull out a 64-63 nonleague thriller over Delco Christian.
It extends for Sun Valley (13-7) a win streak to six games, while curtailing an eight-game run for Delco Christian (12-5).
Griffin made the difference in a pulsating final stretch. The Vanguards trailed by nine when Khamai Orange opened the fourth with a 3-point basket. But SV trimmed the gap with a 6-0 run from Blaize Eldridge midway through the quarter, then Eldridge’s power drive to the hoop with 2:39 left put Sun Valley up, 55-54. So began seven lead changes in the final three minutes.
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