BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
The Hope Christian Academy boys varsity basketball team narrowly missed out on remaining in the winners’ bracket before ultimately seeing its season come to an end with a 64-52 loss to Faith Baptist Christian Academy out of Ludowici, Georgia, during the second day of the Southeastern Christian Conference tournament, which was hosted by Starke’s Northside Christian Academy.
Hope (17-6) did walk away with a trophy as it and Open Bible of Valdosta, Georgia, were co-champions of the SECC’s West Conference.
The Lions, who were the top seed in the West Conference, opened the tournament with a win over Brunswick, the fourth seed in the East Conference, on Feb. 16. That set up a matchup between Hope and second seed Open Bible (which defeated third-seed East team Faith Christian of Yulee) on Feb. 17. Aiden Wilson sank six three-pointers for the Lions, but his effort wasn’t enough as the Warriors scored nine of the game’s final 12 points in handing Hope a 42-37 loss.
Wilson, who finished with 20 points, made two shots from beyond the arc in the first quarter, which helped the Lions go into the second trailing only 15-12.
Hope closed the first half with a 7-2 run, which began with a Wilson three-pointer. The teams then exchanged baskets, with Marcus Chever scoring for the Lions. Hope’s Jude Hanson was fouled on a drive to the basket. He missed both free-throw attempts, but the Lions were able to
gain possession of the loose ball after the second miss, which led to Hanson feeding Wilson for his fourth three-pointer of the half. Chever then scored on a drive to the basket in the final 10 seconds, sending Hope into the locker room leading 24-23.
The second half got off to a promising start for Hope when Wilson sank a two-point jump shot, but the Lions scored only one point the remainder of the third quarter, which resulted in the Warriors taking a 31-27 lead into the fourth.
A Wilson three-pointer was part of a 7-2 Hope run to start the final quarter. Chever and Hanson each had a basket also as the Lions took a 34-33 lead. Four of Hope’s next five possessions, however, each consisted of one shot and a defensive rebound by Open Bible, which took advantage of its opportunities in scoring nine straight points to take a 42-34 lead.
Wilson made a three-pointer at the end of the game to account for the five-point final margin.
Chever finished with 12 points, while Hanson and Dalton Thomas each had two points. Tavian Frazier added one point.
To stay alive and advance to the tournament’s third day, the Lions had to defeat Faith Baptist, but Hope was outscored 22-10 in the first quarter and trailed by double digits for most of the game in losing 64-52.
Despite eight points from Chever in the first quarter, the Crusaders were able to build an early 13-6 lead, with the help of three three-pointers. After a score by Hanson, Faith Baptist went on a 9-2 run to close out the quarter, with the final points coming on a three-pointer just before the buzzer.
The Crusaders took advantage of three turnovers to score seven straight points to open the second quarter and increasing their lead to 29-10. It was a 31-14 game before Hope closed the quarter out with a 10-1 run. Frazier and Hanson each had a basket before Chever scored twice, with his second basket following a Hanson offensive rebound. A Thomas steal led to a Hanson basket, which sent the Lions into halftime trailing 32-24.
Chever scored off a turnover to open the second half, making it a six-point game, but that’s as close as Hope would get. Four points from Hanson helped the Lions keep the margin in single digits for a while, but the Crusaders scored eight of the quarter’s final 10 points, which allowed them to go into the fourth quarter leading 49-34.
Chever scored 12 points in the final quarter (including going 6 of 6 from the foul line) and finished with 28 points. Hanson had 16, while the Lions also got four points from Frazier and two points each from Thomas and Julio Casielles.
Chever and Hanson were named to the All-Conference team.
