The Falcons Nest - January 13th

The Falcons kicked off the week hosting Grace Christian of Raleigh on Tuesday evening in a non-conference NCISAA match-up. The Falcons saw ball movement and a transition attack get them off to a strong 18-5 lead in the first quarter. The offense stalled a bit in the second, seeing Grace close the gap heading into the half with the Falcons up 35 – 16. The second half saw multiple Falcons add to the scoring column on their way to 16 team assists on 23 made field goals in the game. In the end, the Falcons were too much for Grace and ran away with the decisive 57-23 victory to move to 15-2 on the season. The Falcons were led in scoring by Ashanti Fox’s 21 points (8 steals and 4 assists). Joining Ashanti in double figures were Tamiya Judd (13 points, 6 rebounds) and Kennedy Moore (10 points, 4 assists). Rounding out the Falcon scoring were Ava Vonderkall (6 points), Reily Johnson (4 points), Riley Lefler (2 points), and Brooklyn Adams (1 point).

 

Thursday, the Falcons traveled to conference opponent Trinity School of Chapel Hill and Durham. A fast start saw the Falcons jump out to a 19-4 first-quarter lead and never look back. Stifling defense created numerous transition opportunities for the Falcons who busted open the game in the 3^rd quarter at 51-19. All Falcons in uniform saw meaningful minutes and contributed to the victory. “It was a great game to build on our depth and give multiple players extended game minutes,” shared Coach Brase. “We will need all 9 players down the stretch and games like tonight help us grow our depth for a deep playoff run.”

 

The Falcons were led in scoring by Ashanti Fox (26 points). Joining Ashanti in double figures were Kennedy Moore (16 points) and Tamiya Judd (12 points). Rounding out the scoring on the evening were Brooklyn Adams (3 points), Riley Lefler (2 points) and Clara Tanner (1 point).

The Falcons now move to 16-2 overall and 3-0 in Tri-TAC conference play. “This week was a good bounce-back week for us after an emotional loss last Friday night,” adds Coach Brase. “We needed these two strong team victories and opportunities to build our depth with extended game minutes as we begin to prepare for playoffs next month.”

 

The Falcons will hit the road next week for a non-conference NCISAA 2A match-up at Freedom Christian and finish the week at Tri-TAC conference opponent Salem Baptist.

 

Last Friday, the Falcons hosted Wayne Country Day School for the annual Homecoming game. The Falcons came out sharply on the offensive and defensive side of basketball.  With their efforts, they finished the first half only down by 8 points after a buzzer-beater from Will Slagle. Although the Falcons had great momentum going into the game, the Falcons came up short with a score of 75-54 to a great Wayne Country Day team.

Leading the charge for the Falcons was Malachy White (18pts, 6 rebs, 4 asts, 6 stls). Assisting to the fight were D'Marion Tomlinson (11pts, 5 rebs, 2 asts, 2 blks), Will Slagle ( 8pts, 7 rebs, 1 stl), Holt Neville ( 5 pts, 4 rebs), Nick Joyce ( 5pts, 4 rebs, 1 asts, 1 blk), Brennan Hodges ( 3pts, 2 rebs, 1 asts), Kanye McKeithen ( 2 pts, 4 rebs, 1 asts) and Dakota Bender ( 2 pts, 1 reb). 

The Falcons hosted Grace Christian of Raleigh on Tuesday night. The Falcons came out the gates strong playing well on the offensive side of the ball during the first half of the game. The second half of the game went well for the Falcons, but Grace outpaced them in the end with a score of 85-57. Leading the Falcons in points was D’Marion Tomlinson (27 pts). Contributing to the action was Dakota Bender (11 pts), Malachy White (9 pts), Will Slagle (7pts), Kanye Mckeithen (2pts), Nick Joyce (1pt).

Thursday night the Falcons traveled to Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill. A highly competitive contest saw the score tied multiple times. The Falcons got a big stop down the stretch to send the game to overtime. Unfortunately, the Falcons couldn’t quite turn the tide and lost 50-53 on the road.

The Falcons will return to action on Tuesday, January 17^th on the road against Freedom Christion School.

·         January 6^th vs Wayne Country Day School – 49-36 (W)

·         January 10^th vs Grace Christian Raleigh – 33-39 (L)

·         January 12^th vs Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill – 38-24 (W)

The Falcons celebrated homecoming hosting Wayne County Day on Friday, January 6^th. The Falcons got off to a fast start scoring at will in transition for 11-3 first-quarter lead. The Falcons continued to push the tempo taking a first-half lead, 25-13. The Falcons started the second half right where they left off. As Wayne Country Day tried to apply pressure defense Gunnar Adams responded in the third quarter with two huge three-pointers. The Falcons went ahead to close the game out 49-36. Andrew Pavlovich had a game-high of 18 points. Rounding out the scoring for the Falcons were Will Haarlow (11 points), Gunnar Adams (8 points), Oliver Simpson (5 points), Max Pashley ( 4 points), and Aaron Pavlovich (3 points).    

 

The Falcons hosted Grace Christian Raleigh on Tuesday, January 10^th at home. The Falcons started out strong with good perimeter shooting from Gunnar Adams and Will Haarlow hitting three first-quarter three-pointers for a 17-9 first-quarter lead. Grace Raleigh Christian responded in the second quarter to send it into halftime a tie game at 21-21. The second half would be a seesaw battle as both teams would trade buckets down the stretch. Grace Raleigh Christian edged out the Falcons in the final two minutes defeating the Falcons 39-33. Although the Falcons came up short, they played their best well-rounded game against a very tough opponent. The Falcons were led in scoring by Gunnar Adams (14 points) followed by Aaron Pavlovich (9 points), Will Haarlow (5 points), and Andrew Pavlovich (5 points).

 

The Falcons closed out the week on the road against Trinity School of Durham Chapel Hill on Thursday, January 12^th.  The Falcons came out strong to start the game on the defensive end. Applying full-court pressure, the Falcons forced Trinity to turn the ball over allowing easy scoring in transition for the Falcons. The Falcons would continue to apply pressure all game as they took control from the tip-off and never looked back. The Falcons closed out the first half with a 9-point lead heading into halftime with a score of 25-16. The second half Trinity came out strong but, the Falcons responded every step of the way with quality minutes from Ford Grimshaw and Oliver Simpson. The Falcons closed the game out with a victory of 38-24. All Falcons saw action and were led in scoring by Andrew Pavlovich (17 points), followed by Max Pashley (10 Points), Aaron Pavlovich (5 points), Ford Grimshaw (4 points), and Oliver Simpson (2 points).

 

The Falcons will return to action on Tuesday, January 17^th on the road against Freedom Christion School @ 4:00PM.

The men's and women’s swim teams are working hard after the break and preparing for their final meet on January 17^th which will be Senior night.  The meet starts at 4:00 PM. 

 

The O’Neal School (B team) - 15

SCC - 13

 

In their third game of the year, our Falcons “B” team took on Sandhills Classical Christian. Joelle Cole got the Falcons going early, drilling a three-point basket early in the first quarter to give the Falcons the early lead. However, Sandhills would answer with a free throw and a two-point basket to tie the game at 3-3 as the first quarter ended. In the second quarter, Joelle Cole knocked in another three-point basket and Vivienne Rhue converted a putback as the Falcons took an 8-8 tie into halftime. Buckets by Keelie Bosworth and Caitlyn Strickland kept the Falcons even with Sandhills and then Joelle Cole’s steal and “coast to coast” lay-up with less than a minute to play served to secure the victory for the Falcons, 15-13. Joelle Cole led all scorers with 9 points, while Vivienne Rhue (2 points), Caitlyn Strickland (2 points), and Keelie Bosworth (2 points) also scored.

 

The O’Neal School - 41

Village Christian Academy - 5

 

In their only contest of the week, our Falcons traveled to Fayetteville to take on the Knights of Village Christian Academy. The Falcons got going quickly in this one as Lindsey Havenstein took the opening tip from Gianna Maheu and converted a lay-up in the first three seconds of the game. Then, on their very next possession, Chesley Lucas swished a deep corner three-pointer to push the lead to 5-0. From there, our Falcons were off and running to a 16-1 ffirst-quarterlead. Strong defense and quick transition offense would further push the lead to 31-1 at halftime and the Falcons ultimately cruised to a 41-5 victory. For the second game in a row, Emeli Michael led all scorers with 16 points.  Joining Emeli in double figures was Gianna Maheu with 10 points while Sofie Itegie (4 points), Chesley Lucas (3 points), Lillie McIntosh (3 points), Lindsey Havenstein (2 points), Ella Vonderkall (2 points) and Sydney Davis (1 point) also scored.

 

The MS Boys A team fought until the very end, once again, executing late-game plays with precision, and came home with a huge win against a tough conference opponent, Village Christian Academy.  The final score; 30 – 28.  Top point earners were Christian Lyles (8) and Will Haarlow (8).  The battle ensued from the very beginning with back-and-forth play the entire game.  The win wouldn’t have been possible without the entire team contributing.  Jordan Cole, Thomas McFayden, and Joseph Lucas were absolutely vicious in the paint all night long coming up with crucial rebounds and defensive stops.  Jacob Slagle also nailed a deep three-pointer from just inside the half-court line with one second on the clock at the end of the 3^rd quarter which brought the energy of the team up and launched them into the 4^th quarter.  From there, the Falcon’s offense controlled the game, moved the ball, made key scores, and brought the game home.  The team will go into next week with two games against St. David’s and continued conference play against Berean Christian Academy.