By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Lafayette Christian School basketball teams tipped off a new season against Oak Mountain Academy on Monday.

In the boys’ game, Oak Mountain used a high-powered offense to hold off Lafayette Christian 82-67.

The Cougars, with new head coach David Gisler leading the way, got within 10 on a Matthew Brooks 3-pointer with 6:07 to play, but the visiting Warriors had a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Three of Lafayette Christian’s players accounted for 50 of the team’s 67 points.

Cameron Gisler led the way with 18 points, and he made five 3-pointers. Sam Shephard was next with 17 points, with 12 of those points coming in the first half. Brooks added 15 points, and he made four 3-pointers.

In a high-scoring first quarter, it was Oak Mountain taking a 21-18 lead, and it was ahead 44-26 at the half.

The Cougars made a move in the second half, getting within 11 points on a Gisler 3-pointer with 4:30 left in the third quarter.

Oak Mountain hung tough, though, and it was ahead 62-45 heading to the final quarter.

Gisler drained another 3-pointer moments into the fourth quarter to get the Cougars within 14, and Brooks knocked down a pair of shots from long distance to cut the Warriors lead to 66-55 with more than six minutes to play.

Oak Mountain answered with a 3-pointer of its own on the other end to take a 68-55 lead, and it was ahead by at least 12 points the rest of the way.

In the girls’ game, it was Oak Mountain taking control from the get-go on the way to a 53-19 victory over Lafayette Christian.

Savanna Bryant, led the way with 10 points, and she made a pair of 3-pointers.

Juleigh Haynes was next for Lafayette Christian with six points, and she was 3-for-3 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

Bryant is one of a handful of newcomers to the lineup, with head coach Rene Gomez calling it “a melting pot of three teams here.”

“We’ve got our girls, then we’ve got some girls from Sound Doctrine, and then we’ve got a couple of girls that we picked up from Ballard Christian,” Gomez said.

Ballard Christian, which is located in Auburn, Ala, is only offering one sport this school year (volleyball), so the athletes at the school have been given the clearance to play a sport at another school.

Two players from Ballard have joined the Lafayette Christian team.

“The girls that wanted to play basketball were seeking somewhere to play, so the league allowed them to play with us,” Gomez said. “And those girls have immediately helped us 100 percent.”