E.A. Sports Today

Golden Eagles put on a show

Broom goes for 49 points, 15 rebounds, Phillips has 19 and 16 in debut and Jacksonville opens season with 104 points

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

JACKSONVILLE — New Jacksonville coach Shane Morrow honestly didn’t know what to expect from his first game as head coach of a team with state championship talent and expectations.

The fans who filled the parking lot and the stands came expecting to see a show and, man, did they get one.

The Golden Eagles opened a season full of promise Thursday night with a 104-59 rout of a Faith Christian that didn’t roll over in the face of seemingly big odds.

They did it with only six players and having not had one practice with their full team. The rest of the roster, including three starters, were football players still in the playoffs. They sat on the end of the bench is blue warmup shirts and stood in every huddle.

“They gutted it out and I appreciate that,” Morrow said. “They played hard tonight and that’s the biggest thing I wanted to see.”

The six they did have were dominant enough and their dynamic duo was, well, dynamic.

John Broom more than doubled his high school career-high with 49 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Cade Phillips, the 6-8 transfer from Westbrook playing his first real game with the group, had 19 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.

The Golden Eagles shot 64 percent from the floor as a team, 53 percent from beyond the arc and outrebounded the Lions 51-15.

It begged the question if they could do this with six players, what could they do with all 12?

“Since transferring this is what we looked forward to, that first game together, just to see how we play together,” Phillips said. “Having six guys we haven’t been able to go 5-on-5 with each other since the summer.

“Since I stepped on the campus at Jacksonville this is what you’ve been looking forward to, walking through the halls and just thinking about basketball season and waiting for tonight, really. I can’t wait to get all of the guys back.”

Faith first-year coach Corey Hughes, a former basketball official and Phillips’ family pastor, promised a team people would enjoy watching and everybody in the gym took notice early.

The Lions had a four-point lead two minutes into the second quarter.

The game started about like everyone expected. Ethan Duke opened the scoring with a drive, Broom dunked off a Phillips steal and Phillips followed a miss with a dunk so thunderous his hand got caught in the netting and he had to hang on the rim to protect himself.

Broom scored Jacksonville’s final 14 points of the first quarter, but with Ethan Richerzhagen heating up from the outside and Faith scoring six of seven baskets from 3 at one stretch, the Golden Eagles couldn’t shake the Lions.

“I told them before the game we’re going to be a lot of team’s Super Bowl,” Morrow said. “Everybody’s going to be excited. You’ve just got to weather the storm. Weather the storm and we’ll be fine.”

The Golden Eagles finally, reluctantly, went into a zone to curtail the Lions’ outside shooting, and Broom took charge. He scored 12 points over the next four minutes to take the Golden Eagles from a four-point deficit to a seven-point lead that grew to 16 at halftime.

Broom had 30 points and eight rebounds in the first half and Phillips drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the halftime margin.

“I think adrenaline got into us and wiped us out quick,” Phillips said. “We have six guys and when everybody’s adrenaline’s pumping and we’re going 99 miles per hour to start off the game I felt that got to us quick and it took us a little to settle back down. And John got hot in the second half and, boy, y’all saw how that went. That was something crazy.”

Broom never felt he had to do more because the Golden Eagles were shorthanded, but he was sharper than ever. He was 18-of-24 from the field in the game and 13-of-15 from the line. His previous high school career high was 23 points against Etowah last year. He scored 30 in an AAU game this summer.

“I didn’t really think about all the points, I really just thought about winning the game,” he said. “I knew we had six players so we had to play a little smarter than what we would usually do. We had to lower down on our fouls and had to play a lot smarter and listen to coach more and just cooperate and play together.”

BOYS GAME
Jacksonville 104, Faith Christian 59
FAITH CHRISTIAN (0-1) –
Ethan Richerzhagen 7-19 0-1 18, Colton Pahman 3-8 2-3 11, Thomas Curlee 4-11 1-2 10, Jacques Prater 2-7 1-2 7, Will Smith 2-2 0-0 5, Yashua Arevalo 1-3 1-2 3, Demonde Bell 1-1 0-0 2, Joseph Carroll 1-1 0-0 2, Eli Robinson 0-1 1-2 1, Brodie Dodson 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Whitworth 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Bell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 6-12 59.
JACKSONVILLE (1-0) – John Broom 18-24 13-15 49, Cade Phillips 7-11 4-8 19, Julian Hill 5-8 3-3 16, Hayden Robinson 2-6 4-5 8, Devin Barksdale 3-4 0-0 8, Ethan Duke 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 37-57 23-31 104.

Faith Christian2120 827 – 59
Jacksonville23342720 –104

3-point goals: Faith 11-34 (Richerzhagen 4-14, Pahman 3-8, Curlee 1-3, Prater 2-6, Smith 1-1 Arevalo 0-2); Jacksonville 7-13 (Broom 1-2, Phillips 1-1, Hill 3-6, Robinson 0-1, Barksdale 2-3). Rebounds: Faith 15 (Prater 3); Jacksonville 51 (Broom 15, Phillips 16, Duke 7). Assists: Faith 10 (Richerzhagen 3, Pahman 3); Jacksonville 17 (Phillips 7, Hill 4). Technical fouls: Robinson. Total fouls: Faith 24, Jacksonville 11.

GIRLS GAME
Jacksonville 44, Faith Christian 23
FAITH CHRISTIAN (0-1) –
Ally Folsom 3-11 1-4 7, Ari Arevalo 3-8 0-1 6, Joelle Tillery 1-8 1-4 4, Serenity Pate 1-3 1-2 3, Jona Harrison 0-2 2-2 2, Anna Strautman 0-5 1-2 1, Megan Ford 0-3 0-0 0, Gabrielle Price 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 8-42 6-15 23.
JACKSONVILLE (1-0) – Amarie Curry 8-15 4-11 20, Alexis Phillips 4-9 4-4 12, Kiara LaCount 2-6 1-2 5, Alyssa Willingham 1-4 0-0 3, DeAsia Prothro 1-1 0-0 2, Halaina Lozano 1-7 0-0 2, MiArah Hardy 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Rowan 0-0 0-0 0, Rachel Sanders 0-2 0-1 0, Lamiah Steagall 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Grant 0-0 0-0 0, Mya Swain 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-46 9-18 44.

Faith Christian5369  –23
Jacksonville6131015  –44

3-point goals: Faith 1-14 (Folsom 0-2, Tillery 1-8, Pate 0-1, Strautman 0-2, Ford 0-1); Jacksonville 1-13 (Curry 0-1, Phillips 0-4, Willingham 1-2, Lozano 0-2, Hardy 0-1, Sanders 0-2, Steagall 0-1). Rebounds: Faith 30 (Arevalo 6, Ford 5); Jacksonville 47 (Prothro 8, Phillips 7, Curry 6). Fouled out: Folsom. Total fouls: Faith 16, Jacksonville 15.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login