Faith Academy boys basketball beats San Marcos Academy

CAPTION: Faith Academy junior forward Wade Dillard does the dirty work in the lane. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team defeated San Marcos Academy 54-43 Jan. 6 to go to 2-0 in District 4-3A of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.

“Huge credit to (SMA’s) coaching staff and their team for as well as they played,” Faith head coach Zakk Revelle said. “I think that all of our players and staff would say we did not play Faith Academy basketball, but that’s the thing about Faith Academy basketball. When you’ve done what we’ve been able to do over the last few years, you get everybody’s best shot and when you’re not playing well and the other team is playing really well, can you still come up with wins? I would credit the win to our non-district schedule.”

The Flames, who have won six consecutive district titles, trailed 17-13 after the opening stanza. But they took the lead at 20-19 by intensifying the defensive pressure, Revelle said.

“We got a couple of steals that led to lay-ups,” he said. “And then from there, we finally got some shots to fall. We couldn’t get any shots to fall in the first quarter.”

Faith led by as many as 18 points in the fourth period.

“It was a great opportunity for us to work on our stall offense,” Revelle said. “We hadn’t been able to do that in a game in awhile. To be able to do that was good. And so we were able to work on some stuff we hadn’t been able to work on against a quality opponent.”

He credited four reserves for the outcome. The first is sophomore point guard Austin Skahill.

“The first time he came in, he got a steal and a layup, followed by another steal and a pass to a layup,” the coach said. “Austin played a really good game. He was a big, big factor for us.”

Another was sophomore guard Jadyn Jenkins, who nailed a 3-pointer at the horn to end the third quarter.

“That kind of felt like a final dagger,” Revelle said. “Obviously the game wasn’t over. We had a whole other quarter to go, however, it was one of those big momentum plays where we had finally built up this lead and we’re up by 15 and then we’re getting one last play. And it just felt like if there was any hope that it was kind of sucked out of the room.”

Junior forward Wade Dillard “was just so steady for us,” he added.

“He does everything we ask,” Revelle said. “He rebounded the ball really well defensively, and he attacked gaps.”

Freshman John Riley, whose minutes are limited because he’s still adjusting to the speed of the varsity level, connected on two 3-pointers in the first half to extend the Flames’ lead 23-19.    

“He sparked us off the bench,” Revelle said. “He’s a really, really good shooter. He did a good job of playing his role defensively, and then offensively, his role is to shoot the ball and he did a really good job of that.”

He applauded the Bears’ efforts in trying to derail the Flames.  

“They’re a young team. They have a couple of guards that can and can do some things,” the coach said. “But we felt like we had an advantage in a lot of positions, and we did not shoot the ball super well, but that’s what happens on the road, right? You want to be able to play defense and get stops, which is what we did and to win the game was the goal. As coaches it’s like, ‘hey, we want to win no matter what, we just want to win the game.’ I think that it was a humbling experience for our guys to be reminded that district games are really tough to win, especially on the road, and so anytime you can come up with one, it doesn’t matter how many you win, just take care of business, and so ultimately we did that.”

Faith has a bye Friday, Jan. 9, and then travels to play Austin San Juan Diego at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13.

CAPTION: Sophomore guard Jadyn Jenkins long bomb ended any hope the Bears may have had to pull an upset. Photo by Stennis Shotts