Christian Turner, freshman point guard at Gardner-Webb University, was greeted by more than 40 friends, fans, former coaches and family members when his team arrived at the Stegeman Coliseum to face the Georgia Bulldogs.
Gardner-Webb is a mid-major basketball program in Boiling Springs, North Carolina from the Big South Conference. Turner is one the most gifted basketball players to ever come out Fayette County and his transition to basketball at the college level is flowing just fine. In the 77-59 loss to UGA, Christian had four points, six assists, two blocked shots, and two steals.
During his senior year at Sandy Creek High School, Turner was the Sandy Creek Player of the Year, first team All Fayette County Basketball Team, and one of the key reasons that Sandy Creek missed going to the Final Four by only two points.
When asked about the game, Gardner Webb head coach Tim Craft said, “We played a great first half of basketball (halftime score 40-37 UGA), but we struggled in the second half. We struggled to score and we turned the ball over. We must give credit to Georgia for making some excellent adjustments to defend us. Again, we competed in the first half and we just didn’t get it done in the second half.”
When asked about the play of Turner, Coach Craft said, “Christian is just a terrific young man. He’s been a pleasure to coach and he comes from a great family. He has come off a bench to give us a spark and he delivers every time that he is on the floor. He made a couple of crucial drives to basket and each time he was fouled and he delivered on all four free throws. Christian has made contributions in every game for us this year.”
Turner added, “It felt good to be at home and play in front of friends and family. It was definitely a homecoming for me. It was great to play against Tyree Crump (Crump is a freshman guard at UGA from Bainbridge High School). We played against each other in the first round of the state playoffs last year and he is a tremendous competitor.”
When asked how it felt to go up against his godbrother William Jackson II (sophomore guard from Athens Christian School), Christian said, “It was surreal. It has been a few years since we played against each other and it was great to reconnect and battle on the court.”
