Admirals roll at West, fall to Fulton by 6
While Jon Higgins wants to win every game he coaches as Farragut Admirals boys basketball skipper, some games are a little more important.
Higgins and his FHS team dropped a 52-46 decision to Fulton on Senior Night Saturday, Feb. 2, in Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium. But the game was sandwiched between a Friday, Feb. 1 District 4-AAA win at West and another league game to come.
“It’s like I told the guys after the game, ‘you want to win every game. But if you asked me if I’d rather have this game or our game Tuesday (4-AAA game Feb. 5, at Heritage), I would take the game Tuesday every time,’” Higgins said about the greater value of district wins.
(Farragut played Heritage after deadline). The Mountaineers are in the district cellar.
Saturday night’s game against the Falcons (18-4) was less than 24 hours after the Admirals (11-16) notched a key 68-57 district win at West Feb. 1. That victory helped Farragut (7-7 in district play) salvage a season split with the Runnin’ Rebels.
“That was a big win for us because it put us at 7-7 in the district,” Higgins said. “West is 8-7 or 8-6 or whatever it is, and that win gave us a chance to catch them if we get two wins (this) week.”
Farragut hosts rival Bearden, one of the top teams in the state, Friday, Feb. 8, when it will look to avenge a 77-21 loss at BHS.
Farragut has gone 9-6 after a horrendous 2-10 start to the season. “We competed tonight and we’ve really been competing well for the last few weeks,” Higgins said.
Freshman guard Dillon Atwell gave FHS its first lead of the contest when he buried a 3-pointer to make it 19-18 with 2 minutes, 59 seconds left until halftime.
Farragut was ahead 21-20 before the Falcons closed the first half with a 5-0 run to open a 25-21 lead. A 10-0 Fulton surge in the third quarter made it 35-21.
The Admirals managed to pull to within 41-39 when Robby Geron made a pair of free throws early in the fourth quarter. Farragut never came any closer.
“Fulton is a great team and they have state championship aspirations,” said Geron, who scored 14. “We were coming in after a tough game last night.”
Alec Keathley, junior forward, had 12 points and Atwell 11.
In Farragut’s win at West, Atwell scored 20 points and made five 3-pointers. Keathley had 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. Will Brown, senior wing, added 14 and Geron scored 11.
