Faith Academy boys basketball finishes second at own tourney
CAPTION: Faith junior forward Asher Apel and the Flames use a variety of shots to attack the basket with the aim of beating Austin Regents and winning their own tournament. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team is the runner-up of its own tournament thanks to posting a 3-1 record at the event Dec. 15-16.
The Flames lost to Austin Regents 56-47 in the championship after beating Austin Veritas 67-46 in the third contest to win their pool to advance to the title game.
Regents opened the game with a 21-7 lead, though Faith went on a 7-0 run. But the Knights scored the last bucket to take a 23-14 advantage into the second period.
Faith stepped back on the court determined to climb back in the contest. The Flames cut the deficit to 3 points twice but trailed 34-28 at the half.
Once more Faith picked up its defensive intensity, especially in the final 3 minutes of the third stanza and ended it on an 8-0 run to trail 44-42 going into the fourth quarter. But Regents answered with a 7-0 run that began immediately as the period started. The Knights had at least 3 offensive rebounds on that opening possession and finally scored.
“I think that’s what older teams do to younger teams,” Flames head coach Zack Revelle said. “Asher Apel was the oldest player (on the floor) for our team. He’s a junior. We have a really talented group. We’re really young and learning how to close out games. I thought (my team) played really, really hard. I’m so appreciative of them doing that. It did feel like we took a step forward. Regents has good older players.”
As hard as the Knights tried to break the Flames’ will, they refused to yield, which also pleased Revelle.
“That was something we talked about after the game,” he said. “We felt like they came together as a group. They learned what it means to fight for each other. If Asher gets on the ground, the other four will do that, too.”
Regents beat Faith 65-49 two weeks earlier, and the Knights keyed on freshman guard Will Slyker, who had averaged 36 points during the tournament. They did everything they could to keep the Flame from scoring 20 points. He still dropped in 20.
“Will scored 27 at their place,” Revelle said. “They did a great job game planning for us.”
Revelle credited his players for not allowing the game to get away from them.
“That was a big step forward,” he said. “I was proud of the way we fought together. I felt like the tournament was one of the most successful in my opinion for us personally. We got some good games out of it.”
Faith welcomes Austin Hyde Park to The Fire Pit Tuesday, Dec. 19. The junior varsity plays at 5 p.m. and the varsity follows. Then the current players will face some of their former teammates in the first alumni game fundraiser at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20, at at The Fire Pit.
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