Following an uncharacteristic performance from his team in the first half, Summit Christian Academy boys basketball head coach Matt Patton unleashed a little fire and brimstone in the halftime locker room.
It was just what the Falcons needed.
Wiping out a 14-point third quarter deficit, Summit Christian rallied for a 65-60 road win over Class A No. 3 Greater Beckley Christian Thursday night.
“It’s a big win. I am really proud of the effort, especially what we did in the second half,” Patton said. “We lit into them pretty hard in the locker room at halftime. I think we have seen better defensive efforts from our team and that is what we asked for in the second half.”
Over the first 16 minutes of play, the Crusaders owned the game racing out to a 24-12 lead after one quarter and 38-25 advantage at the break.
“In the first half we weren’t playing defense and we weren’t rebounding,” Patton lamented. “In the second half we came out and and executed on offense. We didn’t necessarily have our best game from our scorers and shooters, but I am really proud of the way they played.”
After trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half, the deficit for the Falcons was still 14 with 2:32 to play in the third period.
Patton refused to panic and gave his team a vision for success.
“We had a game in the summer where we came back from 20 in the second half and we just reminded them of it,” Patton said. “We had come back from bigger deficits (than 14), but it would require defense and some heart to do it. We have had quarters where we have held teams to three or six in a quarter and that is what I challenged them to do.”
Challenge accepted.
An old school 3-point play from senior M.J. Patton, who finished with a game-high 26 points, sparked a 10-0 run to end the quarter and flipped the momentum in favor of the visitors.
“We stopped letting them get out in transition,” Patton said about the turnaround. “We rebounded and held them to one shot most possessions. That was big. They weren’t shooting well or finishing well in the first half, but they didn’t let it bother them. They just came back and played.”
Watching the lead disappear and eventually lead to a loss was a tough pill to swallow for Greater Beckley head coach Justin Arvon.
“Extremely frustrating tonight,” Arvon said. “We will put it on our staff as much as anybody. We didn’t make adjustments when we needed to from a personnel standpoint or an X’s and O’s standpoint. We didn’t execute very well either, but that is on our staff and me.”
“We stopped getting in transition and stopped getting the ball up the floor. Not only that, we couldn’t get a rebound on the defensive end,” Arvon went on to say. “Maybe we needed to look at our matchups and see where we needed to go with that, but we didn’t make any adjustments. The biggest thing too was we didn’t score the basketball and that was mainly because we stayed out of transition. Even when they score, we should be getting the ball up the floor, but we just weren’t doing it.”
A long ball from sophomore Keegan Davidson opened the final quarter for Greater Beckley and snapped the Summit run, but failed to break the Falcons’ charge.
Trailing by six points, Adam Jones scored inside before Eli Patton and M.J. Patton both worked free behind the Greater Beckley defense for easy layups to even the game at 55-55.
“There is a lot of experience out there and they have played together for a long time,” Patton said. “They know how to play. They have run the same offenses that we have run for years, but it was the defense. We came out and played defense.”
The game was tied three times down the stretch, but the visitors went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to secure the win.
Summit Christian’s ability to get the ball in the paint and to the rim was a major key to the comeback win.
“It is easy to fall in love with the 3, but we have kids that can get to the rim. It is something that we talked about before the game too, but I don’t think they bought in,” Patton said. “We needed paint touches and we needed to get to the rim. We harped on it a little more in the second half. They did it and that was key. If we can spread them out, we can attack and get to the rim.”
Already down two starters Thursday, Greater Beckley also had to battle through some foul issues along the way as well.
“Playing with foul trouble can bring down the intensity a lot and it crashed on us. Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way, but you have to find other ways to be successful. We weren’t able to do that in the second half,” Arvon said. “Summit played very tough and executed very well in the second half. They’re a very good team.”
SCA: 12 13 21 19 – 65
GBC: 24 14 12 10 – 60
Summit Christian
M.J. Patton 26, Adam Jones 4 (7 rebounds), Kyler Carpenter 11 (11 rebounds), Eli Patton 10, Chance Watkins 14.
Greater Beckley
Keegan Davidson 10, Javonte Spencer 11, Drew Fitzwater 14, Kash Hendrix 11, Eli Gunter 3, Isaiah Kincaid 11. Totals: 22 8-13 60
