Faith Academy boys basketball beats New Braunfels Christian
CAPTON: Faith Academy forward Hudson Tatum scored the final bucket against New Braunfels Christian to ensure the victory. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team defeated New Braunfels Christian 53-48 Dec. 30.
The Flames trailed by a point going into the final stanza.
Junior forward Seattle Hampton nailed a 3-pointer with about a minute remaining for a 49-46 lead. The Bears scored a lay-up to cut the deficit 49-48 with 21 seconds left and then fouled Hampton, who hit both free throws with 14 seconds left.
During a timeout, head coach Zakk Revelle drew up a press breaker that ended with sophomore forward Hutton Lemberg catching the ball and finding Hudson Tatum for the lay-up for the final score.
“It was a good way to end the game. The execution was good,” Revelle said. “New Braunfels is a well-known TAPPS program. So we’re glad to come out with a win. And also that it was a close win. It was good to have a good, close game where we had to take care of the ball at the end.”
He was especially pleased with how the Flames defended in the fourth period, noting the Bears were held to eight points in the final eight minutes.
“To hold any team to single digits in a quarter, you’re typically doing something right,” Revelle said. “I think it was the only quarter that we did hold them to single digits, just a little switch of some game adjustments by our coaching staff, Malcolm Canada and Garrett Cole, who were calling the defense. They made some adjustments and guys took the coaching well.”
Offensively, he noted the Flames “didn’t play as well as we wanted,” but he attributes that to not playing a contest since the 68-51 victory against Austin St. Stephens Dec. 19.
Faith now turns its attention to the District 4-3A opener against San Antonio Keystone with the junior varsity playing first and then the varsity to take the court at 3:30 p.m.
Revelle said he created pre-game preparations against NBC to mirror what the Flames will face against Keystone. Both NBC games started at the same time they’re scheduled for Keystone.
“It was all purposeful,” he said. “We really tried to mimic what it’s going to look like Saturday. And ironically New Braunfels has similar personnel to Keystone, so we’re glad to come out with a win.”
Keystone will rely senior guard Jack Jude, who was the second-leading scorer in TAPPS a season ago.
“He can really score the ball,” Revelle said. “We know that. We played him last year. He’s a good player, good kid, and they’re a very well-coached team. He is their everything to a degree, and I’m not trying to slight their other players, but I think even their players would say, ‘Yeah, this is our guy and we trust him. And we let him take a lot of shots because a lot of his shots go in.’ You’re never going to hold these guys to zero – they take too many shots and so he’s going to score. It’s just a matter of really containing him. From our perspective a big part of it is going to be crashing the glass offensively and taking care of the ball. And then defensively, not giving up extra shots and making sure that they’re just one and done. I think if we do those things, then it’ll hopefully end in our favor.”
