Frederica Academy suffers regular season finale loss to Hope Christian

Feb. 5—In the team's final game of the regular season, Frederica Academy welcomed in a non-region opponent they were already familiar with, the Hope Christian Academy Warriors (18-9).

The two schools had previously played a few weeks prior in Jacksonville, with the game coming down to the very end before the Warriors snuck out a 60-59 win. It was a similar result Friday with the Knights falling 53-48.

The early minutes of the game saw both offenses stagnate as the squads refamiliarized themselves with one another. Neither team ran offensive plays very well in the opening minutes, and if it wasn't for Emauri Hampton's seven points in the first, the Warriors would have found themselves trailing big.

Frederica's William Jobe had the hot hand coming out of the gate, connecting on all three of his shots — including two 3-pointers — and blocking a shot on the defensive side of the floor.

With the game was tied at 15 to start the second quarter, both teams traded baskets. Neither squad led by more than four points at any point. The defensive resiliency by Vic Riden to block two of his three shots in the quarter, kept the Warriors from attacking the junior in the paint.

The trio of Jordan Triplett, Ridden and Jobe combined for 24 of the teams 29 first half points, while grabbing 15 rebounds, dishing out four assists and blocking four shots.

However, it was only a one-point game going into the locker room. A big reason was the Warriors' ability to connect on shots from deep and keep the Knights on their toes.

"They are a very good basketball team," Frederica head coach Carl Nash said. "They are the best we have played. We can hang with them because we have a good inside presence but if you turn the ball over against those guys or take bad shots, they are going to take advantage of it. That's what they did."

Coming out of the locker room and setting up halftime adjustments, the Warriors were able to cause fits for the Knights by bringing constant pressure to ball handlers and not giving Jobe enough space to get a clean shot off.

Defensively, the Knights went to a 2-3 zone to stop the barrage of 3-pointers coming from the Warriors, who believed they were the NBA version of their name.

On the offensive side of the court, Frederica wasn't seeing many shots find the bottom of the net, with Riden and Jobe struggling to not only possess the ball but make a move to the basket. Hope's defensive adjustments allowed the Jacksonville located school to take a 43-40 lead into the final quarter.

With the first six minutes of the quarter being rather slow, the game really came alive with 1:50 to play. After grabbing the rebound and pushing the ball down the court, Triplett lost control of the basketball and seemed to give a fast break opportunity away to Hope. Two Hope players dove for the ball simultaneously and the ball squirted out of the hands of the visitors.

Bryce Reilly picked up the loose ball and found the cutting Triplett for the easy layup to not only avenge his fumbling of the ball but to bring his team to within one, 49-48.

Hope Christian's coach took a timeout to cool down the Knights comeback and the rowdy student section that came alive in the dire moments.

Coming out of the timeout, the Warriors showed no sense of urgency to shoot the ball, content to swing the ball around the wings and not becoming trapped by Knight defenders.

Nash yelled at his team to foul and put Hope to the free throw line to get the ball back and have a chance to score.

Hope's Dontrell Harris split the pair of free throws and after the miss, Nash called timeout to draw up a play for his team to get a crack at regaining the lead.

With 45.9 seconds left to play, Frederica started to run its play, with the intention of the ball ending up in the hands of Jobe. As the ball found its way to the 6-foot-9 sophomore on the right wing, Jobe rose up from 3 and shot the ball with no hesitation. The place was ready to erupt if Jobe sank his shot like he has all year long.

Clank. The shot hit iron and into the hands of Dante Tillman.

Tillman, fouled after the rebound, missed the 1-and-1 and again Triplett crashed the glass for the Knights.

Down 50-48 with 23 seconds left, Nash yet again called timeout to draw up a play for his team.

The Knights broke out of the timeout and ran the play to perfection or did they?

Running an almost identical play for Jobe, Triplett this time found Jacob O'Connor on the right wing and the senior guard started to make his way to the baseline towards the basket.

With the crowd anticipating him to shoot a probable contested shot at the rim, O'Connor passed the ball to Reilly on the low block. However, the ref blew the whistle for a Knights turnover on O'Connor and an opportunity slipped out of the hands.

"What happens if he drives baseline is you want a guy to be in the corner," Nash said of the play with O'Connor. "The guy wasn't there and that's why he had to try and dish it to Bryce."

Hope's Travon Miller would end up on the line after being fouled on the ensuing inbounds play, not without protest of him being out of bounds before he fouled by Xavier Preston.

Miller drilled the two free throws to all but seal the deal with 9.5 seconds left and the score reading 52-48.

Frederica would miss its 3-point shot, and Hope would split its free throws to win the game.

"It makes us much better, these guys make us so much better," Nash said of playing Hope Christian close in both losses. "We have to play hard against them. They make us think. I didn't like our effort sometimes, but I thought for the most part we did OK. It's a game that slipped away from us and it made me mad.

"I think these games help us though. I hope we don't drop in the polls but if we do, we do. This team is better than what we play in the GISA. It's a good game and a good team for us. I like playing them, but I just wish we would have gotten the win."

The Knights take on Trinity Christian in the first round of the GISA Region 2-3A tournament in Statesboro on Thursday night.