December 7, 2021
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Faith Christian wins fifth in a row, Jville’s Phillips scores triple-double in loss; Faith, Jacksonville, PV girls all win … and more
MONDAY’S BOYS SCORES
Faith Christian 88, Jacksonville Christian 70
Handley 57, Munford 50
Hokes Bluff 76, Weaver 38
Ragland 58, Pleasant Valley 46
Southeastern at Donoho
Talladega 59, Jacksonville 56
Before the season began Faith Christian might have been considered one of those nice little middle-of-the-county-tournament-bracket teams on the east side of town, one that would be competitive and win just enough games to keep everyone happy.
But 11 games into the Cory Hughes era – and make no mistakes, he wants it to be an era – the bar has been raised.
The Lions won their fifth in a row Monday night, jumping out on Jacksonville Christian early and coasting to an 88-70 victory to take the early upper hand in their area. They have won seven of their last eight after an 0-3 start.
Three of their four losses have come to teams 4A and larger while the other has been in overtime. They had Jacksonville reeling in the first half of their season opener and they almost beat 6A Fort Payne on the final day of the Glencoe Thanksgiving Classic.
“My goal to come here was to be here the next 20 years – my kids are probably going to go to school here – and we want to create a base of really, really good basketball,” Hughes said. “We’re not ever going to be happy with winning some games. We’re always going to be wanting better and better and better and playing really, really good basketball.”
Ethan Richerzhagen, who led the Lions with 28 points, said the standard was raised the moment JCA eliminated them in the area tournament last year.
“We knew who our team was coming up this next year so we knew what we could do,” Richerzhagen said. “When we came in the first day of practice it was just we’ve got to execute.
“The Jacksonville game, we fought as hard as we could. They beat us, but I still think we proved what we needed to in that first half of the Jacksonville game. It’s really just executing what the coaches put in and keep doing it.” [**read more]
**When you click read more you will be taken to the EA Sports Today website. Please make sure to come back to read more Calhoun County News.
Advertisement
