The Holy Trinity Academy Knights are still undefeated in the Foothills Athletic Council Senior boys’ basketball standings. But just barely.
The Knights improved their record to 3-0 in the Foothills Athletic Council (FAC) when they slipped by the Strathmore Spartans 67-65 on Dec. 15 in Strathmore on a seeing-eye buzzer beater by James LaGrange.
“It was a bank shot,” Knights coach Sam Aiello said with a chuckle. “We had five seconds left and James brought the ball all the way up to about the three-point line where a Strathmore kid picked up his dribble.
“He (James) went around him and put up a shot that went off the backboard and went in.”
Aiello said he surprised at how close the game was.
“We were up 18-8 in the first quarter,” Aiello said. “But Strathmore works hard and came back. When they saw they had a chance to win, they picked it up.”
Aiello said the Knights became frustrated due to what they felt were some questionable officiating calls. However, he stressed the Knights shouldn’t get rattled over some calls — especially himself and the coaching staff.
“We didn’t play that bad but we got off our game because we were frustrated,” Aiello said. “We were frustrated as coaches and we, the coaches included, lost our focus.”
The Knights got into foul trouble in the game, however, it might have paid some dividends in giving some younger players valuable minutes.
The Knights’ Grade 10 rookie Kyler Helinsky came off the bench and contributed 13 points in the victory.
“We kept Kyler in there until the end and he responded. He hit a couple of huge shots at the end of the game,” Aiello said.
Derek Nimmo also had 13 points for HTA while LaGrange led the team with 20 points.
The Knights will practice during the Christmas break and they return to game action when they travel to Black Diamond to play the Drillers on Jan. 5.
Holy Trinity will then host the Knights Classic tournament on Jan. 7-8.
