JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Episcopal School of Jacksonville Eagles (5-1) held on to defeat the Atlantic Coast Stingrays (3-3) in an exciting game that went down to the wire.
Episcopal would come out with a 51-49 win in the final game of day one in the Fortegra 9-12 Basketball Tournament. Mark Flakus (Eagles), junior SG, finished with a team high 16 points. Brendon Pate (Stingrays), junior PG, finished with a game high 27 points. 15 of those points coming from behind the arc.
The Stingrays offense wasted no time heating up in the opening quarter. Pate hit back to back threes to put his team up 6-0 with six minutes to play in the first quarter.
On the other side of the ball, the Eagles struggled to find their offensive groove. Parker Chappell, junior SG, broke the ice and scored the first two points for the Eagles with four minutes to play in the first. Coming off the right wing, he drove towards the middle and finished with a lefty lay in. But the Stingrays would win the first by a score of 13-6.
In the second quarter the Eagles offense began to heat up. With 2:48 to play in the half, KJ Jackson, freshman SG, hit a deep step back three to bring his team within two of the Stingrays, 18-16 Atlantic Coast.
48 seconds later, Flakus was found in the right hand corner and he drained the three. This would give Episcopal their first lead of the game with two minutes before halftime, 19-18.
Episcopal’s hot offense would carry them into the break with a 22-21 lead over Atlantic Coast.
In the second half, threes began to rain down for both teams. After a three from Cort McCarthy (Episcopal), junior guard, with six minutes to play in the third, the Stingrays got in on the action and hit back to back threes from the same spot.
With Pate and LeDerrick Garrison’s threes, the Stingrays were up 31-26 with four minutes left in the third. But Chappell came through hitting a big three and finishing at the rim off of a baseline drive. The end of the third quarter found the Eagles up 38-34.
The score was now 49-46 Episcopal with 30 seconds to play in the game. Atlantic Coast called a 30 second timeout to come up with a game plan. The Stingrays took the ball out on the sideline across from their bench. The ball is inbounded and with 15 seconds to play Pate is fouled while shooting a three. He was sent to the charity stripe and sunk all three to tie the game up at 49.
The ball was inbounded to Flakus and he was fouled in the backcourt with 10 seconds to play. Flakus sunk both of his free throws to put the Eagles up 51-49. The Stingrays drew up one last play and got a look at a wide open layup but it was missed and the Eagles escaped with a 51-49 win.
Episcopal (5-1) will now move onto the semifinals in the Fortegra 9-12 Basketball Tournament and face the Lee Generals (4-0) on Dec. 11th at 6pm. Atlantic Coast (3-3) will prepare to face the Bartram Trail Bears (1-4) on Dec. 11th at 1pm. Both games will be played at Fletcher High School.
