Falcons Rebound After Tough Loss
Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, December 18, 2012
FARMVILLE – Fuqua School head boys basketball coach Marcus Gregory saw something he liked in back-to-back games over the weekend. As much as he disliked the Falcons' 84-38 loss at VISBA Division I state power Cape Henry Collegiate, he was impressed with how his team bounced back less than 24 hours later in a 71-43 over Richmond Spirit Home School on Saturday night in Gilmer Gymnasium.
The Falcons started off slowly, and trailed at one point 17-15 early on, but used a big 30-0 run to cruise to a victory they would've likely gotten, but had the potential to be a lot less decisive.
“I knew there was a possibility that we would start out slow against them,” said Gregory. “We had a long trip to Virginia Beach on Friday, and we didn't play nearly as well as we thought we could. I wasn't really surprised that we started off a little slow, but I liked how when we got going, we didn't let up.”
Not until the end of the third quarter, at least, as the Falcons led 59-31 when Gregory emptied his bench for the final period.
“They all earned it,” said Gregory. “Our starters played well enough to get the final quarter off, and our reserves have worked so well in practice that they deserved to play significant minutes.”
The Falcons were led by Antonio Gonzalez and Boris Ngundji, who had 12 points apiece. Ngundji added ten rebounds. Carter Cunningham scored nine points and pulled down seven rebounds, while North Angle scored eight points. Al Baker scored seven points on the night, and Jai Jamerson pulled down seven rebounds.
The Falcons traveled to Richmond Christian on Monday night and took an 83-43 victory over the Warriors to move to 4-0 in VCC play.
The Falcons, who broke the game open in the first quarter and led 25-14 at the end of the first, 43-24 at halftime and 72-34 at the end of the third quarter, were led by Gonzalez, who posted a double-double of 23 points and ten rebounds, while Ngundji also had a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds. Jason Ellington scored 13 points, while Baker added 10. Carter Cunningham added seven points and six rebounds.
The Falcons (5-2, 4-0 VCC) completed their pre-Christmas break schedule, and will travel to the Fluvanna Christmas Tournament on December 27-28. Fuqua will play the hosts on the first night of the tournament at 7:30 p.m. in Palmyra.