First Assembly 53 – Arborbrook 41
The Falcons (2-8) played and almost perfect first half but lost their focus in the second half and dropped a heartbreaker to First Assembly 53-41. Mitch Moore scored the first basket of the game and then sprained his ankle and was lost to the team for the remainder of the game. The Falcons were already playing without Daniel Zangmeister who was on the bench with a rib injury. Down to five high school players, the Falcons played their best basketball of the year looking sharp on both offense and defense. Five different players scored for the Falcons in the first quarter as they built a 13-5 lead. The second quarter was even better than the first as the Falcons outscored Frist Assembly 15-6 to hold a 28-11 half time lead. Seven different players scored for the Falcons in the first half. We played a tight zone and forced First Assembly to shoot over the top and held our position so that the Wildcats could not pull down the rebound. First Assembly became frustrated and it showed by their actions on the court and on the bench. This was a significant turn around for the Falcons since we had lost to First Assembly by 26 points earlier in the season. Unfortunately, there is always a second half.
We knew First Assembly would crash the boards in the second half and try and pick up the pace. All we had to do was play solid defense and block out. The key to the rest of the game would be the first couple of minutes. Two lazy passes turned into two quick buckets for First Assembly and the momentum had shifted in the first 20 seconds. Coach called time out but the damnage was done. We never regained our focus and you could feel the game slipping away. The Falcons still held a 36-31 lead going into the fourth quarter and finally lost the lead with 4 minutes to go but continued to hang within striking distance until the last minute. First Assembly went 12 for 12 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. The game was much closer than the final score would indicate. We still have not learned how to win the close games. Free throws have hurt us the entire season and continued to haunt us this game. There are some negatives to every game and I could pick apart the second half but that would not be fair. The Falcons played a good game against a heavily favored opponent. They missed Mitch and Daniel but the middle school players stepped up and played well. It was a win for us. The Falcon players definately had the better attitudes on the floor even when the game was sliding from our grasp.
For the Record: Josh Black lead the Falcons with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Caleb Farmer scored 7 points with 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Trey Barnes scored 6 points on two 3 pointers to go with 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist. Nathan Spitler knocked down 4 points with 5 rebounds. Forest Landa scored 3 points on a banked in three pointer. (counted no matter how it looked) Forest also had 1 rebound, 4 steals, and 2 assists. Caleb Robinson scored 2 points with 5 rebounds and 1 assist. Caleb stepped in when Nathan got into foul trouble and played outstanding, especially since it was his second game of the day. Mitch Moore scored 2 points with 1 assist even though he played only one minute before leaving with a sprained ankle.
