Holy Trinity Academy Knights Senior boys head basketball coach wasn’t sure what hit him when his team lost to its cross-town rivals on the weekend.
What hit the Knights was a hard-working Falcons’ defence combined with some hot shooting led by a guy from the west coast with a Mohawk-type haircut and wearing bright orange sneakers.
The Falcons downed the Knights 90-50 in a battle between two undefeated teams in the Foothills Athletic Council Friday at Foothills Composite High School.
“They (the Falcons) shoot well – every time we play those guys they always have some good shooters,” Aiello said. “They are just smart and see the ball well. They have a good young post in Ray Goff and how does that kid from B.C. just plop in here?”
The Falcons started the game like they wanted to get home early to study for exams. They knocked the wind out of the Knights early by taking a 26-9 lead after 10 minutes. The Falcons upped their lead to 40-20 at half-time when Ryan Derochie hit a three-pointer from beyond the arc.
Falcon Anand Carrigan, who moved from Vancouver to the Foothills area in the fall, was playing in his first cross-town rivalry game. Carrigan had a strong game finishing with 15 points and was a force on the boards and his passing.
It was the team’s defence Carrigan wanted to talk about after the victory.
“We played with heart,” Carrigan said. “We talked as a team and came together and keep thee pressure on them.”
Falcons coach Amron Gwilliam said the Falcons played solidly for 32 out of 40 minutes. He said the Falcons lost focus in the third quarter when HTA went on a10-point run.
“I was mostly pleased with how we played,” Gwilliam said. “With our top guys I think we match up with anybody in the province if we can keep up our intensity. That’s where we want to be, able to play with intensity for 40 minutes.”
Gwilliam said Joss Engen and Tyler Grigor gave the Falcons some valuable minutes coming off the bench.
“Joss came off the bench and I think he tied Ray for defensive rebounds,” Gwilliam said. “He might have had only two points but he does the little things that you don’t necessarily see on the scoreboard.”
Third-year Falcon Landon Pitcher finished with 12 points and helped spearhead the Falcons offense at point guard. The Falcons leading scorer was Ray Goff — who lives practically across the street from the HTA head coach — with 18 points.
The Falcons’ Taylor Orr also came off the bench and gave Goff a breather at post.
“He is only about 6’2” or so, but he battles and does well,” Gwilliam said.
The Knights went into the game with their leading scorer James LaGrange suffering from a bout of stomach flu. The gritty LaGrange hung in there until getting into foul trouble.
Knights post Luke Sinclair said having their leading scorer on the sidelines is no excuse for the lopsided loss to the Falcons.
“It definitely hurt us but we just didn’t’ step and play with any energy,” said Sinclair.
Sinclair said he believes the Knights can compete with the Falcons but Holy Trinity Academy would have to play with intensity for the entire game.
The Knights did show flashes of the undefeated FAC team that went into the game.
“We played hard but we just didn’t play at the same level they did,” Aiello said. “We also got into foul trouble and missed a lot of shots.”
Rookie Kyler Helinsky came off the bench and hit some three-point shots and was the Knights’ leading scorer with 10 points. Mark Oness also had 10 points.
The Falcons improved to 4-0 in the FAC with the victory over HTA.
The Knights bounced back from the loss to Foothills to down the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans 79-48 Saturday afternoon at HTA.
LaGrange bounced back from the flu to pump in 15 points for the Knights. Sinclair also contributed 15 while Oness had 13 points.
The Knights and Falcons will break for exams and resume FAC action on Jan. 31 when Holy Trinity hosts the Highwood Mustangs in Okotoks.
The Falcons will travel to Strathmore to take on the Spartans.
To check out the FAC standings see sports on page 8.
