January 15, 2022
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Faith’s Richerzhagen, Arevalo pick up slack for missing teammate; game marred by scrum in fourth quarter, Faith considering an appeal of penalties
JACKSONVILLE — The 8-9 game in the County Tournament should be the most intense game of the tournament outside the championship game with supposedly the two most evenly matched teams in the field. When one team is in the matchup is missing one of its top players, it’s cause for worry.
Faith Christian, the No. 9 seed that with a little more debate at the meeting could have been higher, was missing top scorer and rebounder Thomas Curlee with lower back problems. The Lions needed someone to step up.
Ethan Richerzhagen and Yoshua Arevalo answered the call.
Richerzhagen was on fire. He scored 37 points and Arevalo had a career-high 26 as the Lions pulled off a 76-52 win over Weaver that got heated at the end.
The way the game was going for the Lions, if Richerzhagen didn’t score you were surprised.
He had 14 of the Lions’ 17 points in the first quarter, 26 of their 33 in the first half and 37 of their first 59. He was 14-of-32 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range (all in the first half), and hit 13 of 14 free throws. In the first half alone he was 8-for-12 from the field (4-of-5 from 3) and 8-of-8 from the line.
“Before the game coach pulled me aside and said you’ve got to step up extra; I had to do this for Thomas,” he said. “Thomas was averaging a double-double for us, so I knew I had to step it up on the boards, step it up on the perimeter. It got the job done.”
Richerzhagen was having a game of historical proportions, but he wasn’t around to finish it off.
He was involved in a scrum under the Faith goal with 5:20 left in the game and the Lions leading by 17.
It was an incident that resulted in the ejections of four players – Richerzhagen, teammate Colton Pahman and Tristan Brown and Armane Burton for Weaver.
Pahman and Brown were ejected with technical fouls, Richerzhagen and Burton for flagrant fouls. Faith coach Cory Hughes got clarification that his two players will be able to play in Tuesday’s quarterfinal against top-seeded Jacksonville, but they are still subject to AHSAA fines.
Richerzhagen said he was coming to the defense of his teammate, but admitted he may have carried it a little too far.
“All of a sudden I see four guys on (Pahman) and I’m not going to let my family get hurt,” he said. “I was trying to break it up and I just pushed too hard.”
(About two hours after the game there was some discussion of Faith officials appealing their players’ penalties, claiming video evidence to support the lack of malicious contact. Hughes said was waiting to watch the film before calling on the process.)
After Richerzhagen retired to the bench, Arevalo picked up his slack and added to his totals while preventing the Bearcats from getting any closer. A rally like that has happened in the past.
These were the same teams that played two years ago when Weaver came from 17 down to beat the Lions. It’s the game Hughes says the players still talk about to this day.
Now, they’ll have another.
This story will be updated.
Faith Christian 76, Weaver 52
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Yoshua Arevalo 10 5-8 26, Jacque Prater 2 3-4 9, Ethan Richerzhagen 10 13-14 37, Brody Dodson 0 0-0 0, Demonde Bell 1 0-0 2, Colton Pahman 0 0-0 0, Damian Arevalo 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 21-26 76.
WEAVER – Tristan Brown 3 2-4 9, Jeffrey Miles 3 0-0 6, Kohl Perry 7 0-0 16, Dawson Brooks 2 2-2 7, Buck McGregor 1 0-0 3, Zach Garner 1 0-2 2, Armane Burton 4 1-1 9. Totals 21 5-9 52.
Faith 17 16 20 23 – 76
Weaver 12 12 10 18 – 52
3-point goals: Faith 7 (Arevalo, Prater 2, Richerzhagen 4); Weaver 5 (Brown, Perry 2, Brooks, McGregor). Technical fouls: Weaver coach Winn, Brown, Burton, Richerzhagen, Pahman. Ejections: Brown, Burton, Richerzhagen, Pahman. Total fouls: Faith 11, Weaver 19. Officials: McKinney, Burns, Zauchin. [**read more]
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