Dominance underlines Farragut boys at 3-0 after Jeff Co. ripped
As any basketball coach knows, when your team is hitting three-pointers, you have a great chance to win.
Farragut’s boys’ basketball team put that axiom on display Saturday night at home, as the Admirals hit from long range 14 times en route to a lopsided 86-52 win over Jefferson Co. Nov. 20.
“They’re really good,” said JCHS head coach Matt Johnson about the Admirals. “They have kids who know how to run the floor; they have kids who can shoot the ball. At this point in the season we’re not quite ready for what they bring.”
“I thought defensively we weren’t as locked in as we could have been,” Farragut head coach Jon Higgins said. “It’s OK. I thought we did well. We competed well.”
The Admirals had something else coaches want: balanced scoring. Senior guard Isaiah Smith poured in 23 — almost all were threes. Senior guard Dillon Atwell got 17. Elisha Brabson added 10.
“We definitely shot the ball better this game than we have so far on this young season,” Higgins said. “Now we just gotta make sure we’re doing the other things as well.”
Farragut (3-0) led 22-15 after one. A 7-0 run in the second quarter, followed by a 9-0 run up to half, gave them a 45-24 lead at intermission.
A highlight came with 40 seconds left in the half, when Ryan Neal flipped the ball up for a dunk by Brabson.
The Admirals put the game long out of reach in the third. They not only outscored the Patriots 22-13, but finished the period on a 9-0 run. Four of their treys came in that quarter.
“We can’t pass up a wide open shot,” Higgins said. “I’m OK with the amount of threes that we shoot.”
The teams mostly traded baskets in the fourth.
“We were all feeling it, the whole team was,” Smith said. “We’ve been getting a lot of shots up in practice, and it’s home court. The way they were guarding me I just got good looks and knocked ‘em down.”
Double-digit scorers for Jefferson Co. were Talon Higgins with 13, Vontez McCrary with 12 and Cy Minay with 10.
Both teams return to the court Monday night, Nov. 22, in a Thanksgiving Tournament. The Admirals play at 6:30 p.m. against CAK. The FHS girls play at 8 p.m. against Providence.
Earlier Saturday, Farragut beat East Hamilton 74-50. Atwell led with 22. Neal added 19.
