Anniston, AL – Lions’ tough week continues with loss to Spring Garden, sparks return to fundamentals as White Plains, area tournament near
By Joe Medley
A “family meeting” before the Calhoun County tournament solved Faith Christian’s chemistry glitches. The Lions must work through a tough week to solve what second-year head coach Cory Hughes called a “funk.” Spring Garden’s boys gained separation with a run to open the fourth quarter and beat Faith 53-42 at Faith on Tuesday, avenging a 50-46 early-season loss at Spring Garden on Nov. 29. For Faith, the loss came a night after falling 60-55 to Jacksonville Christian in a game that cost the Lions the right to play host to the Class 1A, Area 8 tournament. Faith beat JCA 78-60 on Jan. 5.
The Lions (17-11) will get their second crack at Class 4A White Plains on Friday, having lost to the Wildcats 80-59 on Dec. 20. The area tournament is next week, at Winterboro. Faith made its first Northeast Regional appearance since 2011 last season and has designs on getting back there. Hughes played “stupidity” for the key fourth-quarter run in Tuesday’s game. “We’re playing super undisciplined right now, not realizing the moment that we’re in, making silly passes and doing silly things,” he said. “That should not be the basketball we’re playing at the end of January and the beginning of February.”
Tuesday’s game was tied 36-36 through three quarters, and Faith drew first blood in the fourth to lead 38-36. Spring Garden (15-7) went on a 9-0 run. John Welsh tied twin brother Jacob with a team-high 16 points and scored seven of the nine points during the run. Jacob Welsh scored the other two on a Cameron Welsh drive and feed.
It all started on defense. “I thought we did a good job of pressuring the wings, made it real difficult for them to have good drives,” Spring Garden coach Levi Hatcher said. “We got a couple of deflections. They cut across the lane, and we got in the way a couple of times. “Luckily, we let those stops lead to transition break buckets. Two or three stops like that, and you finish, and you kind of feel like you’ve got that momentum going.” [read more…]
