Faith Academy boys basketball beats St. Andrew’s

CAPTION: Faith Academy senior guard Jase Marshall performed like the veteran he is in helping the Flames secure a close win. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team defeated Austin St. Andrew’s 56-54 Dec. 2.

In the final minute, junior forward Seattle Hampton hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the contest at 54-54.

Then Hudson Tatum, who was fouled on an offensive rebound, knocked down a free throw to give the Flames a 55-54 lead. Senior guard Jase Marshall followed with another free throw and Hampton contested a St. Andrew’s 3-pointer to preserve the win.

“We had to get scores, we had to get stops,” head coach Zakk Revelle said. “It’s been really good because sometimes you go through a season and depending upon your schedule, you can play games that you’re losing by double digits and then you’re winning by double digits. And so the fact that we’ve had some games where we won by double digits, some that we’ve lost by double digits, but then we’ve also had a game that we lost by three that we learned from and now, we’ve had a game that we’ve won by two that we’ve learned from. So I really enjoyed those games more than the others, because it’s hard to learn stuff (in blowouts). When you get into the playoffs, that’s not how it usually goes. You’re usually going to play quality opponents that you’re going to have a close game, a possession game, so to speak. And so we’re happy that we’re getting some of those knocked out. Now that we’re learning what it’s like to win games at the end but then also the sting of feeling what it feels like to lose games at the end when you don’t take care of your business.”

The ending in the fourth quarter illustrated the Flames are applying what they’re learning. The coach said the Flames haven’t always finished each period the way they wanted to, and that was true during the win against St. Andrew’s. At the same time, the Flames exited the gym encouraged because they experienced making key plays in crucial moments that lead to success, he added.

“There’s a lot of things that we can still be better at always,” he said. “We want to continue to turn the ball over less and we want to continue to rebound better. Usually the last two minutes of a quarter tend to be whenever we don’t play as well. And so we want to make sure that we’re continuing to get better at that. And I think that in that game, we saw a mix where we didn’t close out the second quarter well, we didn’t even necessarily close out the third quarter well, but we closed out the fourth quarter.” 

Revelle noted the Flames’ experience paid off. Hampton and Marshall have been starters for several seasons and Tatum came through.

“There’s a big moment that Seattle Hampton rose to the occasion and it probably won’t be it,” he said. “Honestly, it wasn’t his first time doing well at the end of a quarter. It won’t be his last, but then there were some other good things we did, too. Judah Phillips had a great game. Then I would say, too, our football guys played, and so that was a really big deal. Wade Dillard played a lot of minutes – he’s going to be a big part of what we do. Quentin Merlick came in, and he played a big part. They did a really good job, and so we were really happy with that.”

The Flames will compete in the HTeaO Hoops Classic at Marble Falls High School Dec. 4-6. Faith meets Austin East View at 10:30 a.m. and Magnolia at 7:30 p.m., both on Thursday. Their record against those teams determine who and when they play Friday. All games are at Marble Falls High School.