Arborbrook 48 – First Assembly 45
This was another historic game for the Falcons coming away with the first victory in school history. Watching the two teams warm up, you would have thought there is no way Arborbrook could even stay in the game. First Assembly is a much older team and considerably taller. Coach Scott set the tone right away telling the players: “They are older and they’re taller but I think we are faster and I watched them warm up and I don’t think they shoot very well. Block out and we will be fine.”
First Assembly took a 2 -0 lead which would be their last lead of the game. Nate Johnson quickly tied the game with a driving lay up and added another jump shot which put the Falcons ahead. We built up a 10 -2 lead with baskets from Daniel Zangmeister and Joel VanDusen. One of the best plays of the game came a little before half time. Joel VanDusen made a great pass to Trey Barnes to the right of the lane. Trey hit the shot, was fouled, and completed the 3 point play from the line. First Assembly continued to cut into our lead and finally tied the game at 21. Trey Barnes hit another shot from the right of the lane and we took a 23-21 half time lead. Nate Johnson scored 14 points in the first half which was only a taste of what was to come.
The second half started the way the first half ended. We would build up a lead of 2 or 4 points and First Assembly would catch us but never go ahead. First Assembly could not stop Nate even with their huge height advantage. The Falcons scored the last 8 points of the quarter and we started the historic 4th quarter with the lead.
The lead went up to 10 then down to 6 then back to 8. Joel and Daniel each added another basket as Nate was feeling the effects of crashing into the wall and the physical play of the First Assembly big men (their whole team). With 3 minutes left in the game, we held an 8 point lead when Coach Scott called a time out. He told the players we could win this game if we played solid defense. Little did we know that First Assembly would start throwing up 3’s that actually went in. Our 8 point lead went down to 2 when Nate Johnson staggered to the line after a rather hard foul. Nate calmly hit 2 free throws, his 32nd and 33rd points of the game. We had a four point lead with less than a minute left. We rebounded a missed shot with 40 seconds left and Trey Barnes hit possibly the biggest shot of the game. Our lead was 6 with 30 seconds left in the game. First Assembly hit another 3 pointer with 21 seconds left. Coach Scott called time out and told the players to hold the ball because they were going to be fouled. First Assembly had committed only 2 team fouls which ment we would need to throw the ball in 5 times without a steal. Joel VanDusen did an excellent job with the inbounds pass and the game ended with Caleb Farmer at the line. The game was over. Victory was ours. History was made.
Nate Johnson finsihed the game with 33 points and 8 rebounds. Trey Barnes had 7 points and 3 rebounds. Joel VanDusen and Daniel Zangmeister each had 4 points and Joel also had 3 rebounds. Ryan Brown had 4 rebounds and Josh Black had 3 steals and 3 rebounds. Nate scored the most points but this was a total team effort. What a great game.
