By Al Muskewitz
Coach dances to the oldies after Faith Christian runs past Ragland for its first area championship in 11 years
The Lions’ first-year coach broke out the moves to a little Soulja Boy Saturday after his team steamrolled Ragland 82-48 for the Class 1A Area 10 title, their first area title since 2011. They will host Sumiton Christian in their sub-region game Tuesday night.
“We did what we needed to for him and he did what he needed to do for us at the end,” said Lions guard Demonde Bell, the player who planted the seed in his coach’s head one day last week in practice.
The song Hughes moved to came out in 2008 and was part of the soundtrack of his life, so he only needed a quick refresher that took him back to his senior summer of high school. When the final horn sounded he took a few steps off the bench and cut loose to his own version of Saturday Night Fever, much to the delight of the players and the crowd.
“I was impressed, really impressed,” tournament MVP Ethan Richerzhagen said.
The Lions already had been guaranteed of dancing with a spot in the subregion tournament by winning their area tournament opener Thursday night. But Hughes told them if they wanted to see him dance they had to win the area tournament.
He thought he might not be able to keep his word when he hurt his foot stomping with displeasure over the way his team was playing early in the game. By the time it came to answering the Bell, it didn’t look like it affected him at all.
He certainly worked up a sweat. But that was OK. The Lions emptied the water bucket on him once he made it back to the locker room.
Equally as impressive was the way the Lions played defense. They picked up 19 steals to anchor the effort. Yashua Arevalo had nine of them, to go with his 15 points.
Richerzhagen led the Lions with 28 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists in the title game. His seventh-grade brother Connor even got in on the fun when Hughes cleared the bench, hitting his first 3-pointer in 14 attempts since being called up to the varsity.
But the Lions didn’t just collect a lot of steals and force a bunch of turnovers; they converted them into points.
With a minute left in the third quarter, half of the Lions’ points in the game came off turnovers and they had scored more points off turnovers than Ragland had points in the game (37-33). There were 24 turnovers at that point in the game.
“I think we all played pretty well,” Richerzhagen said. “I don’t think you really see this big of a score in an area championship game, so I think the score speaks for itself.”
Ragland coach Andy Eden didn’t dance around it. He called the Lions’ pressure “relentless.” The Purple Devils stayed with it for about a quarter and a half, but eventually it broke them down.
There was one stretch in the second quarter the Lions turned over the Purple Devils on six straight possession and scored on four of them as part of a 25-5 run that broke it open. There was another in the third quarter when it was five straight possessions and they scored on four of them.
“What you saw tonight is the culmination of what we’re trying to do to accomplish this year, which is tilt the scales every day by playing get-after-it basketball, and it worked tonight,” Hughes said. “We got after them and they made turnover after turnover and kept throwing us the ball.
“I told our guys before the game everybody’s hand has to be in a passing lane and everybody’s hand tonight was in a passing lane and we got a whole bunch of steals.”
And that had them dancing deep into the night.
CLASS 1A AREA 10
Boys Championship Game
Faith Christian 82, Ragland 48
RAGLAND – Dante Pickett 0 1-2 1, Javaris Turner 5-12 4-5 15, Josh Beard 0-0 0-0 0, Braxton Layton 1-6 0-0 2, Kentrell Turner 3-9 2-2 9, Tacorian Soles 0-1 1-2 1, Taevon Williams 0-4 0-0 0, Ezra Hill 3-9 0-1 7, D.J. Turner 6-7 1-1 13, Xavier Forman 0-1 0-0 0, Jaden Isbell 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 18-49 9-15 48.
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Ethan Richerzhagen 8-18 9-11 28, Thomas Curlee 10-21 2-3 23, Yashua Arevalo 6-13 1-2 15, Jacques Prater 3-6 0-1 8, Conner Richerzhagen 1-1 0-1 3, Brodie Dodson 1-1 0-0 3, Demonde Bell 1-2 0-0 2, Colton Pahman 0-1 0-0 0, Damian Arevalo 0-1 0-0 0, Joseph Carroll 0-2 0-0 0, Eli Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Will Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Bell 0-1 0-0 0, Brady Whitworth 0-1 0-0 0. Total 30-68 12-18 82.
Ragland 16 8 12 12 – 48
Faith 19 25 32 6 – 82
3-point goals: Ragland 3-18 (Ja. Turner, K. Turner, Hill); Faith 10-29 (E. Richerzhagen 3-8, Curlee 1-4, Y. Arevalo 2-6, Prater 2-5, C. Richerzhagen 1-1, Pahman 0-1, Carroll 0-2, Whitworth 0-1). Rebounds: Ragland 37; Faith 29 (E. Richerzhagen 7, Curlee 8). Technical fouls: Ragland coach Eden. Total fouls: Ragland 18, Faith 17. Officials: Simpson, Edwards, Sanders.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Eric Tolson, Donoho
Jacoby Tucker, Coosa Christian
Hayden Peek, Coosa Christian
Braxton Brown, JCA
Ethan Fair, JCA
Kentrell Turner, Ragland
D.J. Turner, Ragland
Braxton Layton, Ragland
Jacques Prater, Faith Christian
Thomas Curlee, Faith Christian
Yashua Arevalo, Faith Christian
Ethan Richerzhagen, Faith Christian (MVP)
