Faith Academy boys basketball beats San Antonio Lutheran

CAPTION: Head coach Zakk Revelle (left) and sophomore guard Jadyn Jenkins (11) celebrate the 3-pointer by senior guard Jase Marshall right before the horn sounded to end first half during the Flames’ win against San Antonio Lutheran Feb. 17. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls boys basketball team crushed San Antonio Lutheran 76-49 Feb. 17 in the area round of the Class 3A playoffs of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.

“You face these teams multiple times you just have to remember that no two games are going to be the exact same, especially whenever you’ve blown them out a couple times,” head coach Zakk Revelle said. “We were very thankful to come out with a win. Playoff games are hard to win. I just think that we did a really good job of like sticking to the script.”

Next up is Huntsville Alpha Omega at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, at Temple Central Texas Christian Schools.

To the Mustangs’ credit, they refused to exit without a fight, playing to an 8-8 tie that sent the Flames into a timeout.

But when Faith returned, senior point guard Jase Marshall took over as he scored on a drive to the hoop, a 3-pointer and 7 of his 8 free throws to lead the Flames to a 19-12 lead after the opening stanza.

A series of plays in the second quarter empowered the Flames.

Junior forward Wade Dillard got a steal off a fast break and passed to Marshall for a lay-up. Then junior forward Seattle Hampton swooped in to steal the ball on the throw-in and was fouled as he scored the lay-up.

“I thought that changed the game,” Revelle said. “The foul was on one of their better shooters, who picked up his fourth foul. It was a sequence that kind of got us rolling. It also set the tone for the rest of the game.”

And then in the final seconds, Lutheran was fouled while scoring a bucket and the Mustangs were fired up.

Faith responded by getting the ball to Marshall, who launched a 3-point right before the horn sounded for a 41-19 advantage. As it went through the hoop, he turned to the Faith bench and flexed while his teammates surrounded him in celebration. He finished with 32 points.

“All the momentum shifted back to us going into halftime and so that felt really good,” Revelle said. “I don’t know what it is about him and shots at the end of the half but for whatever reason, they go in for him. I can’t say enough about Jace Marshall. We’re really hard on Jace. We’re harder on the guys who are point guards. Just so happy for him in his last game in this gym. He works so hard. He plays hard in practice and so just very thankful for him.”

Midway through the third period, the coach began emptying his bench as the Flames led 60-31 going into the fourth period.

Senior center Judah Phillips scored 13 points followed by Hampton with 11, sophomore guard Jadyn Jenkins added 7, sophomore Hudson Tatum scored 5, and sophomore guard Austin Skahill and Dillard each contributed 4.

Revelle noted that both teams made defensive switches for this game. Lutheran decided to challenge the Flames in a man-to-man defense instead of their 2-3 zone, while the Flames abandoned their man defense to go to a zone. He said he’s “learned a lot” from Lutheran head coach Bruce Biedinger, who is retiring at the end of this school year after three decades there.

“Big kudos to them,” Revelle said. “I want to give a lot of credit to Luthern because they played really well and they had a totally different game plan. He does it the right way. More than anything just thankful to win and just move on at this point. It’s survive and advance.”  

CAPTION: Faith Academy junior forward Seattle Hampton was part of key sequence of plays that paved the way to another Flames victory. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro