Girard College topples Faith Christian in District 1-A final
NORTHAMPTON >> The Girard College T-shirts worn around the Council Rock South gymnasium Saturday night had this simple message: Cavaliers vs. everybody.
That might be a good match-up.
As it turned out no one team in District One Class A could keep up with the high-flying Cavs, evidenced by Saturday night’s 72-40 victory over Faith Christian Academy.
“We all played together, all played as a team. We played with fire and had that look in our eyes,” said 6-foot-8 freshman Mikeal Jones, who had 24 points in the title game win, including a two-handed slam that helped get the celebration started. “We just came out together and came out with a ‘W.’
“It’s amazing. From where we started off this season, getting off to a pretty good start, to winning a district championship, it’s impressive, and it’s really thrilling.”
Jones and teammate Daiquan Copeland provided plenty of thrills to the strong following of Girard fans in attendance, as the two combined for 48 points worth of fast breaks, dunks and sleek moves around the basket, putting this one out of reach early.
“They came out blazing a storm, and that’s the way you should come out,” said Faith coach Tony DaCosta, whose team has had a stellar postseason run of its own. “You wanna jump on a team right away and see if you can get them down.
“They played an outstanding game. Their speed, their quickness, their transition, and I thought all of that played a key in why we lost.”
#GirardCollege is your #DistrictOne Class A Champ, 72-40 over #Faith pic.twitter.com/yNZO2W4t4i
— Kev Hunter (@khunter10) March 5, 2017
Third-seeded Girard blew out to a 19-6 lead and went into the break up 30-11. In addition to Girard’s dominance around the hoop, Craig Logan hit a pair of threes in his 12-point effort. Aquil Stewart — with plenty of moves packed into his 5-foot-3 body — hit from the outside as did Copeland and Brandon Smith.
“Very excited, very excited,” Jones said of states. “There are gonna be games that we know will be tough so it’s gonna be pretty interesting, hoping for a state run.”
Top-seeded Faith, which got 13 points from Zeke Snowden in the district final, already knows its first-round opponent, and that will be Lancaster County Christian, at a site to be determined.
Getting the defense back into form will be the focus.
“(The Cavs) are downhill attackers and I knew we had to stop penetration and be in gaps and we simply weren’t,” DaCosta said. “Pretty much for most of the night our defense was swiss cheese.
“We pride ourselves on great defense and that’s something that did not happen tonight. On average we hold teams to about 45 points a game and 72’s way above that.”
