BOYS' BASKETBALL: Conquerors' defense stifles Tigers

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on November 30, 2016 10:00 AM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

Complacency leads to losing.

That was the terse halftime message Faith Christian head coach Stephen Hardison conveyed Tuesday night after Trinity Christian whittled the Conquerors' lead.

The speech, although simple in manner, was received with attentive ears. Faith allowed just three points in the third quarter, which paved the way to a 46-32 victory -- the Conquerors' first win of the season.

"Our defense, which got us that lead, slacked off," Hardison said. "I preach to them -- defensive doesn't have a day off. There's no excuse for playing bad defense. You may have an off-day shooting, but you don't have an off-day playing defense. That's just laziness if that happens."

There was no lack of effort from Faith to begin the game. With deliberate movement by players and precise passes on fast breaks, the Conquerors zoomed to a 14-0 lead.

Then the dreaded complacency began to take shape.

Soon, that 14-point lead shrunk to 10 points. Then to single digits. The 19-11 run by the Tigers was capped off by a three-pointer right before halftime, cutting the deficit to six points.

"Complacency will lead to losing not just in basketball," Hardison said. "You don't become complacent in your school work, your job or your spiritual life -- anything. "You always do your best at all times. So you keep the pedal going."

That pedal was slammed to the floor by Faith in the second half. The Tigers scored just 13 points off five baskets in the remaining two quarters.

Hardison said he adjusted his defense, and the players followed suit by pressuring the ball.

"We knew coming in that their strong point wasn't outside, it was inside," Hardison said. "And we wanted to box that in and suffocate it with big boys and big bodies."

While Trinity was stifled, Ethan Glover went to work on offense. The senior scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. He also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds to clinch a double-double.

Dail Spence added eight points and four rebounds. Dylan Downey led Faith with three assists. The lone bright spot for Trinity was Matt Sloan who registered 18 points and hit four three-pointers.

Hardison said his team is still progressing. Most of the players receiving significant minutes this season didn't see the court nearly as much last year.

Even though the Conquerors' notched their first win, Hardison knows there's still plenty of room for improvement.

"I told them, teams may out-talent us, but teams should never outwork us," Hardison said. "Teams should never outthink us...We just have to keep working. Keep working hard and not be complacent with one win...We're learning to play together.

"It's gonna take some time, but we'll get there."