Falcons run right through Lamar
Frankie Johnson prepares to sink yet another basket as the Falcons played the Silver Foxes in Darlington.
Photo by Drake Horton
By Drake Horton, Contributing Writer
It was a good night for the Darlington Falcons basketball team. Some might even consider it a great night.
Having already beaten the Lamar Silver Foxes once by a whopping score of 100-19 in Lamar, Darlington defeated the Silver Foxes once again, this time at home, with the score coming in at 83-35 on December 15.
Sounds like a great game right? So why was it only “good”? According to head coach Ken Howle, he thought his defense could have played better.
“Everybody got to play so they are feeling pretty good about it, but obviously we got some things we have to work on,” Howle said on the defensive performance. “We shouldn’t have given up that many points; I’m more disappointed with our defense.”
While that may come off as bit extreme for a coach whose team won 48 points, Howle holds his team to a high standard and that is one of the main reason they have been so successful during his tenure as head coach.
Outside of the points allowed, a bigger issue that may hurt Darlington down the road was the missed dunks and layups.
“We didn’t finish some plays up, around the basket like we needed to, some dunks, some layups and stuff like that,” Howle said, referring to one of the things Darlington did not do so well against Lamar.
There were some big positives for Darlington and one according to Howle is something that has become prevalent throughout this entire season. It is his team’s unselfishness on the court.
“Our guys continue to share the basketball very well,” Howle said about his team. “We are doing a great job sharing the basketball, making that extra pass.”
And while the passing was good, the outside shooting for Darlington may have been even better. The Falcons had the three pointers working all night long including going six of 10 in the first quarter, when Darlington opened up with a 33-4 lead.
By the time the second half came around Darlington was almost in cruise control and while Lamar did score more than its 11 points in the first half, the Falcons played very passively, committing its first foul of the half not until the 1:02 mark in the fourth quarter.
The Falcons had four players finish in double-digits scoring, with Frankie Johnson leading all scorers with 17 points. Javaskie Richardson finished the night with 12 points, Marquis Green had 11 points and Isaac Simmons rounded out the scorers with 10 points.
Weekly Recap
The Darlington Falcons dropped its first game of the season on the road this week, losing this past Thursday to West Florence by a score of 79-76.
Darlington defeated the Knights in the first game of the season by three points, but this time it was on the side of the scoreboard.
The Falcons, down by as many as 14, almost completed the comeback, but three points was as close as Darlington could get and in the end West Florence was just too much for the Falcons.
Darlington has two tournaments scheduled during the Christmas break.
The Falcons’ overall record is now 6-1.
