FA 59 - Hope Christian 60
This happened to be one of my favorite games as a coach. I think our players enjoyed it as well. Hope Christian is a school in Jacksonville, Florida, and they always have some outstanding players. To me, they one of the best if not the best team we will play all year. This was a non-region game; however, I truly believe it helped us to play such a talented, physical team.
Hope Christian had the lead throughout the game with tremendous perimeter shooting and really quick guards and forwards that could get to the basket quickly. We had to play tough on the defensive side of the court, and on offense we could not draw any fouls.
With all that said, we stuck around, and the fourth quarter was ours. We outplayed them in every way but ended up being short by one point. Losing hurts, but this game was a great game to be a part of. I love how hard both teams played, and when it was over both teams knew it was a battle. I was pleased with our effort and how we dished back the physicality as much as we got it. It helped us, and it will mean a lot down the road especially when we play Pinewood.
William Jobe played outstanding scoring 22 points followed by Jordan Triplett with 14, Jacob O'Connor with 11, Xavier Preston with 6, Vic Riden with 4, and Bryce Reilly with 2.
FA 71 - Pinewood 32
This was another important region game, so we needed to be focused for all four quarters. We needed to avenge the one-point loss we had at their place earlier this season. This was as complete of a game as we have had all season. Everyone on this team contributed, and they had fun playing together as this team should. Our scoring was distributed throughout the team. Four players had double digits, and four others scored. We limited our turnovers and we had twice as many assists. We only allowed Pinewood to score three points in the second quarter, whereas we had 22. We went into the locker room at halftime with a 40-17 lead.
Our bench finished off the game, and they played just as well and hard as the starters. I am proud of this team. You never want to coach a potentially great team that only wants to be mediocre. If you want to be great then play great. They did that tonight.
Jacob O'Connor had a great night of shooting with 15 points followed by William Jobe with 14, Bryce Reilly with 13, Vic Riden with 10, Jordan Triplett with 8, Grant Moore with 7, Xavier Preston with 2, and Rashon Jackson with 2.
Our next game is Tuesday night against St. Andrews in Savannah. Game times are 6:00 p.m. (girls) and 7:30 p.m. (boys).
Go Knights!
Coach Carl Nash