Irish awake, late ‘D’ clutch vs. Ads
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Parker Lane, left, Farragut High School point guard, looks to drive on Knoxville Catholic’s Jason Gainey during this opening round Hammer’s Hardwood Classic game at Hardin Valley Academy Thursday night, Dec. 19. The Fighting Irish overcame an early 13-point deficit with tough defense late for an 83-74 win. - Alan Sloan
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Dom VanAcker, left, Farragut wing, tries to initiate the Admirals offense while guarded by Knoxville Catholic’s Carson Asbaty. - Alan Sloan
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T.J. Tipton, Fighting Irish post, looks to secure an offensive rebound surrounded by FHS defenders Bryce Howard (1) and Kent Carbaugh (4). - Alan Sloan
Editor’s note: due to an extremely early holiday deadline necessitated by printing requirements, the opening round of the Hammer’s Hardwood Classic Thursday, Dec. 19, was our last chance to cover this tourney for this issue.
HARDIN VALLEY — Labeled by head coach J.P. Burris as “probably the best first half offensively we’ve had all year,” Farragut High School’s boys basketball team built a 13-point first-quarter lead against Division II-AA Knoxville Catholic Thursday night, Dec. 19, at Hardin Valley Academy.
But on the other end of this night, after play got especially intense, physically and — some might say — chippy, it was the Fighting Irish perhaps playing one of its best quarters of defensive basketball all season.
Cutting the FHS lead to one point in the second quarter before taking its first lead of the game at 51-49 early in the third frame, Knoxville Catholic’s defense in the contest’s last eight minutes turned a 68-66 deficit after three quarters into an 83-74 Catholic triumph.
The Fighting Irish defense held Farragut to just two points in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter.
“Every day at practice we’ll put three minutes on the clock and say, ‘you’re down 10 and you’ve got to come back,’” said KCHS junior post Cade Murphy, who exploded offensively in the second and third quarters, ending with a game-
high 37 points. “Doing that every day in practice definitely gives us a little experience in just the type of energy needed, how you need to be flying around in situations like that.
“And we stayed composed,” the junior post added.
On the defensive end in the fourth quarter, “our rebounding was better; they weren’t getting as many second-chance opportunities,” Murphy said.
Though Farragut senior wing Dominic VanAcker scored a team-high 30 points, he scored only two points during the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter.
“Carson Asbaty did a great job guarding him in the fourth quarter,” Murphy said.
“Catholic’s obviously a really good team,” Burris said about the Irish.
“We started off hot, shot it really well in the first half,” he added. “Didn’t shoot it as well in the second half, definitely.
“In the fourth quarter I think we only scored six points, which in close games you can’t finish a game that way.”
Guard Brylen Gibbs added 11 points for the Irish, while forward Juice Eleam scored nine and Asbaty eight points for the winners.
Britton Lewis, FHS senior post, scored 14. Bryce Howard and Reid Vining both came off the bench and contributed offensively, with Howard scoring seven and Vining ending with six points.
“I thought our guys’ effort was really good,” Burris said. “We played hard — I couldn’t fault that at all.”
Offensively in the first half, “I was really proud of the fact that we shared the ball,” the Admirals skipper added.
“And in the first quarter we were great defensively.”
