Faith Academy boys basketball earns identity, culture wins
CAPTION: Faith Academy senior point guard Jase Marshall had a career high in points. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team went 2-2 at the HTeaO Hoops Classic hosted by Marble Falls High School Dec. 4-6.
The Flames beat Elgin 57-35 and Austin McCallum 62-47 and lost to Georgetown East View 68-50 and Magnolia 37-33.
“(East View) is really good,” head coach Zakk Revelle said. “We were real thankful and just proud of how we handled their press at the beginning of the game. We came out in the second half and we lost the first 2 minutes and got down by about 11 or 12, and then we could just never get back over that hump. I think the closest we got at that point was maybe eight or nine. At the end of a game you’re down, so you start chunking up threes, and you start missing them. They’re long rebounds, and they end up being layups.”
The loss to Magnolia was the result of not coming “up with a good possession on offense. So kudos to them.”
The tournament helped the Flames in numerous ways, Revelle said.
“We are beginning as a team to really find our identity and learn our roles,” he said. “As a coach, I always try to let the roles happen organically. Kids aren’t dumb. They know who the better players are, they know who should be taking the most shots, but sometimes it’s not a matter of them not knowing who should or who shouldn’t do that. But it’s more a matter of just them learning the game. They’re still trying to figure out themselves just as much as they’re trying to figure out a basketball game.”
He pointed to the win against Elgin as the example, noting the Flames showed their strength and depth to earn a victory that wasn’t in doubt.
“It was the most lopsided of our wins and was a step in the right direction with our identity,” the coach said. “And then I felt like the McCallum win was a really good culture win.”
He noted senior center Judah Phillips was taking a college entrance exam during this contest. Senior point guard Jase Marshall led the Flames with a career-high 24 points.
“For us to come away with a double-digit win in the fashion that we did – we lost the first-quarter, but then we won the next three and I think we were up by 11 or 12 at halftime and then we were up by as much as 22 at one point in the second half,” Revelle said. “This idea about Faith Academy is that we were a one-trick pony and that we were a one-man team, and these guys have really been working very hard, and they’ve been trying to really just erase that. In a game like McCallum, where you don’t have your best player and you still win the game, to me, says a lot about our culture and a lot about how we’re headed in the right direction. We’re not just one big guy and a bunch of other guys. It’s a full team.”
Revelle noted the Flames have a big week beginning with a return trip to Max Copeland Gym to take on the Marble Falls Mustangs Tuesday, Dec. 9, with the junior varsity playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6:30 p.m.
The best matchup may be in the paint between senior centers Cameron Plumlee of Marble Falls and Judah Phillips of Faith Academy, who both stand 6 feet and 10 inches. Marshall may match up against Marble Falls junior guard Beckett Berkman, while junior forwards Seattle Hampton of Faith Academy and Marc Barrios of Marble Falls will be each other’s shadows.
Players of each program know each other well as they attend open gyms at each campus and play pickup games.
“We’ve gotten better and we haven’t had to leave the city limits of Marble Falls,” the coach said. “We’re hoping that this becomes a tradition with Marble Falls. It’d be real nice. We really like the idea of always playing each other because we know that we can make each other better.”
Then Faith travels to take on Dallas Yavneh Academy at 7:45 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13.
Members of the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches have Yavneh at No. 1 and Faith at No. 3 on the Class 3A poll of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
“We’ll see if we’re as good as we think we are or we’re as good as other people think we are,” Revelle said. “We’re really excited about this week. It’s a really cool week of basketball for us where we get to compete against two really good teams, two really good programs that are very well coached programs with people I highly respect.”
CAPTION: Faith Academy senior center Judah Phillips continues to be a top contributor. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
