ACS goes 3-2 in Florida tournament
Published 9:15 am Wednesday, November 27, 2013
The Atmore Christian School Rams are 4-4 this season, after going 3-2 in a tournament and finishing third this weekend in Milton.
The Rams lost the first game of the tournament Thursday 73-41 to East Hill School, of Pensacola. ACS’ Ethan Heller scored 12 points and Joseph Ferrell added 11, but the Rams couldn’t overcome a strong backcourt.
“They have two really good guards,” ACS coach Tim Battles said of East Hill. “We couldn’t stop them going to the goal, so they kept scoring.”
ACS won its next game, on Friday with a 51-36 win over Santa Rosa Christian Academy.
Heller poured in 17 points and Ferrell had 14 in the win.
“We played great defense,” Battles said. “We didn’t give up a lot of second-chance shots. We played well enough on offense to pull away in the end.”
In the second of three games Friday, the Rams beat host West Florida 47-37.
Offense was hard to come by for either team, but with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Battles called a timeout and spoke to his team.
“I told them ‘we need to fight and dig really deep,’” he said. “We raised our level of intensity and went on a 12-2 run to end the game.”
Myles Maher played a great game, especially in the fourth quarter, Battles said. Of his 19 points, 9 of them came in the final stanza. Maher went 11-of-12 from the foul line overall, and 7-of-8 in the last quarter.
Heller also scored 15 points in the win.
ACS beat Oak Level, from North Carolina, 42-39 in its final game Friday.
The Rams led by as many as 10 in the first half, but trailed by 7 with under three minutes left. Heller didn’t shoot well in the game, Battles said, until he hit a late 3-pointer, Battles said. Ferrell then got a put back, a steal and a 3-point play to cap a 10-0 for the Rams to end the game.
ACS ended the tournament Saturday with a 56-44 loss to East Hill.
The Rams trailed 48-42 halfway through the fourth quarter, but “literally ran out of gas,” Battles said.
In other action from last week: The Rams lost 56-54 at home Monday, Nov. 18, to Calvary Christian and 60-52 to Sparta Academy on Tuesday, Nov. 19, in Evergreen. The Rams dropped to 1-2 with the losses.
Heller led the team with 17 points, while Myles Maher added 15. Joseph Ferrell added 14 and Christian Scott poured in nine.
The loss to Sparta was a neck-and-neck game, Battles said. The Warriors led by only four points with 1:18 left. The Rams led after the first quarter.
Scott led the team with 18 points against the Warriors. Maher had 13 and Heller poured in 12.