Glenelg Country School got off to a fast start and defeated visiting Chapelgate Christian 80-52 in this year's Route 40 Challenge.

Each school is located off of the main highway and are approximately 6 miles apart.  They have done battle annually in the MIAA C conference before Glenelg joined the B conference beginning this season.

Sophomore guard Brian Gibbons hit a three-pointer to start the contest.  He followed that basket with a lay-up and two made free throw attempts to score the first seven points of the game. 

"He came out on fire," head coach Charlie Stewart said of Gibbons.  "He really stepped up tonight, I thought, and played real well."

After a basket by point guard James Tangires, Gibbons added two more free throws and gave the Dragons a 9-0 lead in just 45 seconds.

Glenelg added another basket to start the contest on a 13-0 run.  The run was sparked by a full-court press implemented by coach Stewart that forced the Yellow Jackets (3-1) into committing multiple turnovers in the early going.

"We're running a real uptemo style on both defense and offense this year," said Stewart.  "We want to get after it and pressure full court; we did a nice job of that."

The Dragons (3-1) took a 48-25 lead into the half but Chapelgate never quit and came out of the locker room hot to start the second half.  Led by guard Aaron McCall, who had a game-high 15 points, the Yellow Jackets began the third quarter on a 10-3 run to cut the deficit to 51-35 in favor of Glenelg.  

Mike Lovass (14 points) scored four points on the run with Sam Bionconi, McCall and Jeremiah Murrell added a bucket to the cause but that was the closeat that the Yellow Jackets would get.  The Dragons were held scoreless for just over five minutes before Stewart quickly called a timeout and rallied his troops. 

"That's why they call this the Route 40 Challenge," Stewart said of Chapelgate's run to start the third quarter.  "Nothing comes easy on Route 40.  I give them a ton of credit for coming out like that in that third quarter."

Following the timeout, Glenelg went on an 8-0 run of it's own to bring the lead to 59-35.  

The Dragons received a strong game by Ajay Harish, who scored 13 points.  Justin Johnson and John Jones each scored 10 points respectively.  

"We just moved up to B [conference] this year; we won the C conference last year," Stewart stated.  "We're ready to try to test ourselves against the big boys."


Glenelg Country School 80, Chapelgate Christian 52

CCA--Jeong 2, Bionconi 5, Murrell 8, McCall 15, Lovaas 14, Yahiro 4, Leatherwood 4.
GCS--Gibbons 14, Ja. Tangires 6, Jones 10, Shaham 6, Harish 13, Schenk 6, Johnson 10, Sodhi 4, Badaki 6, Azad 2, Jo. Tangires 3.
Half--GCS, 48-25.