3 takeaways from the FACS Crusaders’ win over ECS
FACS needed an extra four minutes to put away ECS Tuesday night on the road. It was a back-and-forth affair for most of the night, and the Crusaders needed contributions from everyone on the court to get the 64-57 win…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingFACS needed an extra four minutes to put away ECS Tuesday night on the road. It was a back-and-forth affair for most of the night, and the Crusaders needed contributions from everyone on the court to get the 64-57 win in overtime.
Here are 3 takeaways from the FACS Crusaders’ win over the Eagles:
Balanced scoring from FACS
The Crusaders (13-3) had four players to score in double figures. Senior forward Jayden Williams led the team with 18 points. Sophomore wing Daniel Egbuniwe had 14. Sophomore guards Kobe Wilkes and Corey Savage each finished with 10.
Early in the third quarter, it looked as if the game was getting away from FACS, thanks to sophomore guard Kameron Jones catching fire. Jones helped ECS build a 33-24 lead before Williams’ six points got his team within one (33-32). Savage tied the game 35-all off a corner 3. Savage hit another big 3 in the fourth quarter before Wilkes hit one of his own to put the Crusaders up 47-45.
“After the first half, we were down nine, and I called timeout. I just told our guys to relax and get the ball back into the post,” FACS head coach Dee Wilkes said. “Kick out when you’re doubled, and we’re going to make shots.”
After junior guard Josh Ward’s layup put FACS up 52-47, Jones scored five points to tie the game to send it into overtime. At the start of overtime, Williams put the Crusaders up for good. Ward, Savage, Egbuniwe and Wilkes made big shots down the stretch to put the game away.
Kameron Jones is a walking bucket
Jones led all scorers with 34 points. He made four 3s in the game and went 6 for 6 from the free throw line. Wilkes sent double teams to Jones throughout the game each time he touched the ball. The double teams didn’t stop the 6-foot-3 guard from scoring, but those double teams made him work a lot harder for his points.
“When you’re playing against a guy like Kameron Jones, he’s going to make shots,” Coach Wilkes said. “He’s one of the best players in the city, the best player in the state to me. He led his team. I knew he was going to make shots. I just told our guys to stick to the plan, and we did that.”
Senior forward Hadden Burgess finished the night with 14 points. No other player for the Eagles (7-6) reached double figures.
Division II Class A is a competitive league
A lot of people don’t respect or think the TSSAA Division II Class A league is very competitive. Tuesday night’s matchup featured two solid teams in the league. Then, there’s Lausanne, Knoxville Webb, Webb School, Tipton-Rosemark Academy, Fayette Academy, Northpoint Christian and Sacred Heart of Jesus.
ECS head coach Will Jenkins thinks this league is “underappreciated.”
“Dee (Wilkes), me, coach (Marvis) Davis at Lausanne, the coach at Tipton-Rosemark Academy (Cedric Anderson), when people look at our schedules, man, we go and play. We play anybody. We don’t run from nobody, because we understand basketball is worldwide.
“For us, we went to BTW (Booker T. Washington) this year,” Coach Jenkins continued. “We played Southwind. We played Cordova. We will play anybody, because that’s only going to make you better.”
Coach Jenkins also touched on a concept he would like to see happen in the near future.
“You do have more teams in a public league than in a private league, because of the way it’s arranged, but that don’t mean private can’t beat public. If you took the top teams in the public and you took the top teams in private and you say let’s go get it, I believe the private would win more.
“You take Lausanne, Briarcrest, us, FACS, Tipton-Rosemark Academy and Christian Brothers, then you take the top teams in the public school league, let’s see what happens. I would love to see it. I think it would be great for Memphis, because Memphis has so much talent.”