Word of God defeats Winston-Salem Christian to move to seventh Holiday Invitational title game

Raleigh Word of God is back in a John Wall Holiday Invitational championship game.

The Holy Rams (9-6) overcame a six-point halftime deficit against Winston-Salem Christian (17-3) to advance to the T.J. Warren championship game that will be played Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Raleigh Broughton’s Holliday Gymnasium. They will take on Napa, Calif., Prolific Prep in the title tilt.

Word of God won Holiday Invitational titles in 2007 and 2012; they’ve finished second in 2008, 2009, 2019 and 2021.

In Thursday’s semifinal, WOG trailed by 11 at the end of the first quarter, but roared back in the second quarter to get within six at 32-26. The Holy Rams continued to chop into the Lions’ lead in the third period and took the lead at 46-45 going into the fourth.

The Holy Rams slowly built upon their lead, and an acrobatic finish by sophomore Zion Collins stretched Word of God’s advantage to six points. The Lions fought back as an Isaiah Washington transition finish cut Winston-Salem Christian’s hole to just one point with 2 minutes remaining in the game.

Moments later, a Lion steal led to a Kobe George dunk to give Winston-Salem Christian the lead. But a Davin Crosby Jr. 3-pointer in the final minute of the game gave the Holy Rams the lead for good and Word of God prevailed.

WOG was led by Freddie Dillione’s 15 points, Mayar Wol’s 13 points and seven rebounds and Davin Crosby’s 13.

WSC was paced by Washington’s 21 poins and Kobe George’s 14.