By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

The Cornerstone Chargers’ boys basketball team was able to move above .500 overall and to 3-1 in area play on Thursday, Jan. 24, thanks to two quarters featuring 22 or more points, as well as four double figure scorers in a 77-60 victory against East Memorial Christian Academy.

In the opening quarter of the game, Tanner Falkner was able to start his 14-point night with two 3-pointers for the Chargers. He was matched with six points from Brody Edwards as well, who hit three field goals in the period to help Cornerstone put 17 points on the board quickly.

That just seemed to warm up the Chargers, who went on to post their best quarter of the game in the second period thanks to three players having at least five points in the frame.

A big reason for their success in the second quarter was due to the hot shooting of Xaveon Smith, who posted 11 of the team’s 26 points.

It also helped that Tanner had six more points thanks to two field goals and a 2-2 mark at the free throw line, while three others combined for 10 points to help the Chargers put 43 points on the board at the halftime break.

Coming out of the half, Cornerstone cooled off a bit posting just 15 points, which seemed low with how well the offense was playing, but Drew Largin kept the Chargers going thanks to six points in the period.

Outside of him, Cornerstone got nine combined points from four different players. Even with their lowest total of any quarter in the game, the Chargers had still posted 58 points through three quarters, and knew if shots started falling, they would pull away with ease in the final period.

That’s exactly what happened as Cornerstone was able to save some of its best effort for last.

In the final period, the Chargers were able to put up 22 more points behind the hot shooting of Smith. He hit four field goals in the quarter, three of which were 3-pointers, to post 11 points for the second time in the four quarters.

That, along with Largin hitting three of his five free throws and posting five points of his own, as well as Edwards posting four more points, Cornerstone was able to close out the game with ease for the 77-60 win.

Smith led Cornerstone with a game-high 27 points, while Largin added 18 points of his own. Behind that, Edwards posted 15 points, while Falkner put up 14 to give four players 14 or more points in the game.