The Nation Ford Falcons swept the Central Eagles as both varsity basketball teams won, but one of the two games wasn’t as easy as one would think.
The Nation Ford boys’ basketball team edged Central 56-49, while the Lady Falcons got a blowout win.
In the boys’ game, Nation Ford head coach Charles Brown said his team didn’t take Central of Pageland serious in the first half.
“It was much closer than I thought,” Brown said. “Our guys thought it would be a walk through. They didn’t play with heart in the first half. It was good that we were able to pull it out.”
Nation Ford opened the game up with a 7-0 run midway through the opening period to go up 11-4. In turn, Central then went on a run to keep it close, most of which was caused by Falcons’ turnovers.
Nation Ford took a slim four-point lead into the second quarter. The Falcons played better defense and was able to break the Central half-court defense to get easy lay-ins.
A little run by Nation Ford allowed some breathing room by the Falcons midway through the second quarter. Creating that distance allowed them to enter the half leading 26-21.
Central opened the second half putting more pressure on the Falcons defensively. Despite hanging around, Nation Ford used defensive rebounds to push the pace in the quarter.
The Falcons started playing into the hands of Central and turning the ball over as the Eagles went more to a full-court press. Central pulled within two points with less than 1:45 left in the third quarter.
Nation Ford was able to get a four-point lead at the end of the third at 39-35.
Central struggled to catch the Falcons as Nation Ford was able to open lanes and get to the basket. Central couldn’t answer the Falcons as they would be able to get the win by icing the game down the stretch at the charity stripe.
Both Makai McKnight and Drew Robertson led with 11 points for the Falcons, as Nation Ford improved to 7-3 on the season.
Girls basketball
The Nation Ford girls’ basketball team cruised to a 69-13 win over Central to get their third win of the season. The win was the best one of the season for the Lady Falcons said head coach Kelly Bennett.
“We started rough and the teams we played were tough,” he said. “We needed that wake-up call. Once we put it all together, we are a good team. We just have to play four quarters.”
Nation Ford jumped out to a 14-0 lead to open the game in the first three minutes of the first quarter.
Most of the Falcons’ starters would come out, which led to a small rally by Central. Starters for Nation Ford came back into score six consecutive points before the end of the first quarter with a 20-6 lead.
Nation Ford continued to push the pace to open the second quarter as they again started strong scoring the first seven points in the quarter before a Central timeout.
The Falcons went up 32-6, before Bennett again made a wholesale change in the lineup. Nation Ford steamrolled into the half leading 34-9, after going in a 14-0 run in the second quarter.
Nation Ford opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run before another Central timeout. A lot of the Falcons points came off Central turnovers throughout the game. Shortly after Nation Ford went up by 40, a running clock started.
The Falcons were led by Haven Land with 22 points and Ariah Heard added 16 points.
Nation Ford is now 3-6 on the season. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams will open Region 3-5A play this Friday, Dec. 19 hosting Northwestern.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
