Faith Academy boys hoops beats Central Texas Christian, wins share of district

CAPTION: The 2024-25 Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team is head coach Zakk Revelle (front row, left), Seattle Hampton, Jase Marshall, Michael Wetzel, Quinton Merlick, Collten Kohutek, Will Slyker, Asher Apel, Hutton Lehmberg, Cooper Hansard, assistant coaches Malcolm Canada and Rich Coleman; Austin Skahill (back row, left), Wade Dillard and Judah Phillips. Courtesy photo

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team defeated Temple Central Texas Christian 79-31 Feb. 11 to finish the regular season.

The win gave the Flames their sixth consecutive district title in the eight years Zakk Revelle has been the head coach. And though Faith must share it with Waco Live Oak after the two teams split the season series, it didn’t take away the joy.

As the players took turns climbing a ladder to cut down the nets, Revelle said he doesn’t take for granted the excitement of winning a championship, especially in Faith’s gymnasium.

“I know how much it hurts to lose in here and a playoff game as well and not getting to cut down nets and not getting to be a part of that,” he said. “And so when you know how much that hurts, it makes it a little bit easier to not take it for granted. We want them to have that memory of and have that feeling of cutting something down.”

Faith led 27-4 after the first quarter, but Revelle made sure the Flames never got complacent for a second.

“We’re headed into the playoffs, … we’re still playing for something,” he said. “We just wanted to make sure that we were locked in and ready to go. We don’t want to be going into the playoffs (complacent). We put up 27 in the first, 19 in the second, 23 in the third. That’s gonna win you a lot of basketball games when you score that many.”

All five Faith starters were in double figures led by all-state sophomore guard Will Slyker with 25 points followed by senior forward Asher Apel with 16, sophomore forward Seattle Hampton added 11, and junior guard Jase Marshall and junior center Judah Phillips each finished with 10.

“That’s a huge deal, that bodes well going into the playoffs,” the coach said. “That’s really what we want more than anything. The offense is clicking, and we’re headed in the right direction.”

The Flames will host Conroe Covenant Christian in the first playoff game at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18.

“They’ll be a really good basketball team,” Revelle said. “Hopefully we’ll win the basketball game at home and see where the road takes us next. And I’m just so thankful for a group of guys that plays really hard and does what we ask. The standard is the standard of Faith Academy, and the standard is that you play with tremendous energy and effort and play defense like your hair is on fire. We didn’t do that for the whole game. We understand that this is almost like a tune-up. This is the last one before it can end if things don’t go your way.”

CAPTION: Faith Academy junior center Judah Phillips is fouled as he goes up for a shot in the paint. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro