FHS wins, then falls late
Farragut High School’s boys basketball team is one of the youngest in the Knoxville area, and the Admirals showed their youth in a pair of Hall of Fame Games in FHS’s Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium.
“When dealing with young teams, the biggest concern that you
have is the rollercoaster,” Admirals skipper Jon Higgins said after
his team dropped a 58-52 decision to Clinton Saturday night, Nov. 17.
The Admirals (1-2) certainly had their share of ups and downs during a busy day on the hardwood. They answered an early wake-up call Saturday around lunch time and routed Whites Creek 65-44.
“We played pretty well against Whites Creek and we beat them 65-44, so I knew we might be flat (against) Clinton and we were,” Higgins said. “We dug a big hole, and the mistakes we made, those were mistakes that young teams make.”
The Admirals were lethargic early and the Dragons (2-1) were
certainly ready and willing to make Farragut pay for its miscues.
Farragut, however, took its first lead early in the second stanza when Will Brown made a basket with 6 minutes, 30 seconds left before halftime to make it 13-12.
From there, though, the Dragons closed the first half on a 17-7 run and opened a 29-20 advantage at the break.
The second half was a roller coaster ride that seemed to sum up the entire day for Farragut.
When the dust had settled, the Admirals outscored the Dragons 20-10 in the frame to open a slim 40-39 advantage.
“We came in the locker room and coach gave us some things strategic-wise and he had to call a timeout because we didn’t execute those things right, and he got on us hard,” Robby Geron, junior guard, said. “We weren’t ready to play and we had to pick up the intensity.
“As a returning player, it’s my job to pick up the intensity.”
Though Farragut went up 48-44 on a Will Brown basket, the Dragons closed the game with a 14-4 run to seal a hard-fought win.
“We dug ourselves a big hole, but we were able to get ourselves out of it,” Higgins said.
