Faith Christian’s offense can’t keep up with Sankofa Freedom in PIAA-1A quarters

BENSALEM >> Defense wins games, but only if the offense is actually putting the ball in the net.

Faith Christian Academy boys basketball coach Tony DaCosta knew his team was going to be tested defensively in its PIAA A quarterfinal against District 12 champion Sankofa Freedom on Friday. The Lions were ready for that, but they weren’t expecting the type of offensive drought that caught them early.

FCA couldn’t recover from a slow start and Sankofa ran away in the second half for a 75-46 victory at Bensalem, ending Faith’s season in the final eight.

“We simply didn’t make layups,” DaCosta said. “We put a lot of work in on layups and I knew it would be a big key but we didn’t make them. They’re explosive and they can score and if we’d put ourselves in better position throughout the course of the game, we might have been ok.”

The Warriors looked every bit the team that hung with Abington and defeated Plymouth Whitemarsh earlier this season during the first quarter. Sankofa’s size, speed and ability to create in the open score overwhelmed Faith Christian right out of the gate.

Led by guard Scott Spann, Sankofa scored the first seven points of the game and led 17-2 with 2:42 left in the first quarter. Faith made just two of its first 12 shots and found itself down 20-5 after eight minutes.

“Most of the games we’ve played have been blowouts, so I wanted to see how they’d react to a closer game,” DaCosta said. “We missed three or four layups in a two-minute stretch and that was a big point in the game.”

Faith didn’t get too rattled coming back out for the second quarter, stayed in its offense and did what it could to slow Sankofa on the defensive end. The Warriors also got a little over-amped on both ends, losing marks on defense and putting up some hero shots on the offensive end.

Josh Forker had a solid second quarter for Faith, hitting two free throws to start it and adding a pair of and-1 plays as the Lions slowly hacked away at the lead. After scoring just five points in the first and giving up 20, FCA came back with a 20-point quarter offensively in the second.

The only issue for the Lions was the 14 points they’d given up, which still had them down 34-25 at halftime.

“To some degree, we were better in terms of our defensive approach but we still gave them too many transition baskets,” DaCosta said. “We were missing layups and they would go in transition and get a basket.”

Spann was simply unstoppable all night. The senior finished with 34 points and 17 rebounds, either out-muscling Faith defenders for putbacks, or making sharp cuts off the backside and converting passes from teammates.

“They’re explosive and we knew that,” DaCosta said. “They’re a well-balanced team, they’re athletic and there’s very little room for error when you play them.”

DaCosta stressed he didn’t think the Lions needed to be perfect to win Friday, but they also couldn’t afford to spot Sankofa a 15-point lead. They needed the Warriors to think about them and the offense just wasn’t able to make it happen.

“You still have to score,” DaCosta said. “I’m a defensive proponent but I’m not stupid enough to say you can only play defense all game. You have to put the ball in the basket.”