How an 0-2 start pushed this Augusta-area player to keep his team hungry in the Peach Jam
When Elijah Crawford got pulled from Tuesday’s game — a 61-36 loss to Team Takeover (3-1) he was visibly upset.
Not just at the fact that he was coming out of the game, but at the fact that The Skill Factory was losing to a squad he felt they could beat on any other given day.
But on that day, Crawford was the brightest bright spot, scoring 19 points and doing everything he could to try and keep TSF in contention. Looking back, that game may have been a tone setter for a TSF resurgence.
After an 0-2 start in the Peach Jam, Crawford and company bounced back for two big wins — one, a 59-58 win against Chris Paul’s CP3 squad and then Thursday’s domination of LeBron James’s Striving For Greatness bunch.
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The latter, a convincing 65-50 victory in a game TSF never trailed, came in front of a packed gym full of Power Five college, LeBron James himself and a ton of fans hoping to get a glimpse of the star. But none of that mattered to Crawford. In fact, if anything, it was the contingent of fans in the building who cared more about seeing the Augusta-area based TSF team succeed than anything else keeping their spirits high.
“The atmosphere was crazy, but to come out and beat (Striving For Greatness), that’s just a regular game for us,” Crawford said. “They’ve got LeBron on the sidelines and all that, but that didn’t phase us. We just came out and played our basketball.”
And at times, it was a beautiful brand of basketball to watch.
It was a dominating performance where three TSF players scored double figures, including North Mecklenburg (North Carolina) product Isaiah Evans who led with 16 points. But Grovetown’s Derrion Reid had perhaps his best game of the week with 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
“That’s TSF basketball right there,” said coach Julius Patterson. “That’s the kind of ball we know we can play. From that first game we lost, we just got in the gym and worked hard to fix some things. And that team we just beat, that was a great team that had only lost one game all week.”
The prize for that win is to face off against Team United (1-3) Friday at 2 p.m.
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“(Thursday)’s win put us over the hump that we needed to get over,” Crawford said. “Last year, it was a lot easier. We just came out and played our basketball. We were big for a 15u team. But this year, because we’re a lot smaller than others, we’ve got to work harder at boxing out and rebounding. We’ve just got to come out and play hard.”
At least for Crawford, playing hard hasn’t been an issue. Even in losses, Crawford’s played with an edge that has seemingly become infectious for the rest of the bunch. In that aforementioned loss to Team Takeover, Crawford scored 19 points on 6-of-16 shooting and was the only TSF player to score double figures.
In the win against CP3, Crawford was the leading scorer again, this time with 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting. But he also added in six rebounds and three assists.
He only had six points Thursday, but he dished out four assists and was a the kind of floor general that has made the likes of LSU, Xavier and Georgia State come calling for his services.
For Crawford, the way he plays is attributed to the same source of motivation many Augusta area athletes share.
“Just always growing up the underdog,” he said. “I always had a knack for winning. And I always want to win.”
Crawford’s winning attitude helped Augusta Christian to a SCSIA 3A state championship last season. It helped TSF come out of nowhere to win a Peach Jam crown last year, and Patterson believes it’s the kind of attitude that can help this year’s team finish strong.
“Elijah’s a great kid, and that’s not just a chip on the shoulder that he plays with,” Patterson said. “He’s just a winner. Like I said, he’s a great kid with great character, and he’s in front of the home crowd, so he doesn’t want to let the fans down.”
And it’s that home crowd Patterson hopes will continue coming out to support his team, starting with Friday’s game against Team United.
“The fans have really been the turning point of these games for us, both (Thursday) and against CP3,” he said. “Thursday we knew all the other fans were gonna be cheering for LeBron, but with our fans backing us, they’re gonna go to the roof. That’s why I call them the sixth man.”
Alabama Fusion hoping to bounce back
After a 70-49 loss to BABC Thursday night, Alabama Fusion (2-3) will be looking forward for a chance to lick its wounds when it plays its next games Friday night at 8 p.m. against Pro Skills (4-1) and then Saturday at 5 p.m. against Team Herro (4-1).
Augusta-area players Antoine Lorick and Khalon Hudson led Fusion with 12 and 10 points apiece despite the loss. Hudson was one rebound away from a double-double, while Augusta Christian's Luke Wilson chipped in with eight points.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Peach Jam: After an 0-2 start, TSF is finding its groove
