There was no need for late drama in this year’s King Cotton Holiday Classic championship.
Faith Family Academy from Dallas cruised past Inglewood, Calif., 91-65, Tuesday night at the Pine Bluff Convention Center for the championship. Eagles Coach Brandon Thomas said his shooters knew how to beat Inglewood’s defense.
“We knew that they like to press, and we knew we were big enough to pass over it,” Thomas said. “We knew once we broke that first line of trapping that we had guys that could make shots. (Maurius) Miles is an unbelievable shooter. Hasn’t gotten a lot of opportunities this year, but I told him before the game, ‘Hey man, you’re going to get a chance.'”
Faith Family shot 67.3% as the Eagles scored from both distance and point blank. They made 13 of 30 from three-point range and dunked 12 times.
FFA senior Tayshaun Williams and junior Miles led the Eagles with 18 points apiece. Miles made 6 of 8 shots from three-point range, while Williams made 4 of 8. Josiah Rose added 16 points with 11 assists, while Gallagher Placide and Xavier Young scored 14 each. The five of them shared player of the game honors.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The Eagles scored the game’s first eight points as they started the game on an 11-2 run. Inglewood didn’t score from the field until Missouri signee Jason Crowe Jr. scored with around 4:45 remaining in the first quarter.
FFA went on to lead 26-13 after making 10 of 12 shots, including 5 of 7 from three, in the first quarter. Inglewood closed the gap to 28-20 over the first two minutes of the second quarter, but FFA pulled away with a 15-2 run.
The game was never close again. FFA junior Josiah Jones scored to make it 88-58 midway through the fourth quarter, triggering a running clock. Young put the final touches on the championship with a dunk in the final seconds.
Crowe, who was named King Cotton MVP despite the championship loss, scored 33 points less than 24 hours after breaking the tournament single-game record with a 54-point night in the semifinals.
Thomas said the Eagles knew Crowe would score but wanted to make sure he didn’t repeat what he did the night before.
“You know that he can shoot it whenever he wants from wherever he wants, but we still don’t want a guy getting 50 on us,” Thomas said. “I’m glad my guys took that personally tonight. He ended up with 33, well below his season average.”
Inglewood junior David Conerly added 24 points. Cayim White was the only other Sentinel to score and finished with eight points.
