Tennessee Temple lost to Grace 35-27 in overtime on Tuesday in the opening round of the ISC Tournament.
 The game was tied 27-27 at the end of regulation. Temple was then outscored 8-0 in overtime.
Darius Akridge had 11 points to lead the Crusaders, who finished 11-3. Two of their three losses were in overtime.
 

Temple remains undefeated

     Temple’s elementary boy’s basketball team improved to 3-0 on Saturday morning, defeating Lookout Valley 41-29 at Vance Gym.

     Shooting guard Darius Akridge once again led the way, scoring a game-high 16 points- including four 3-pointers. Akridge also turned in the play of the game in the second half, scoring a layup on an alley-oop pass that bounced off the floor.

     “It was a great play,” Temple coach Mark Alexander said. “Darius Shannon stole the ball and he kicked the ball ahead to Darius. The ball took a big hop in the paint, and Darius came running in from the left wing, jumped off two feet and put it in all in one motion. The crowd went nuts.”

     Post Johnny Goodman added 11 points – all coming in the first half – to help Temple build a big lead. The Crusaders led by as many as 20 points in the second half before Lookout Valley made a spirited comeback fueled by a full-court pressure defense and long 3-pointers.

     Temple held off the late charge, though, thanks to Akridge’s timely 3-point bombs against Lookout Valley's 2-3 zone and Darius Shannon’s all-around play.

     “I thought Seth (Hickman) did a good job, too,” Alexander said. “He played some last year, and that experience really shows. He did a good job of running the team. And he did a good job at the end when we pulled it out and ran the last minute or so off the clock.

     “It got kinda hairy there at the end,” Alexander said. “That lead kept dwindling away. They were kind of beating us at our own game. . .picking up full-court and pushing it on offense. Fortunately, we had a big lead and were able to hold them off.”

     Temple is off to a somewhat surprising 3-0 start with wins over Berean, Oakwood and Lookout Valley. All three wins have been by double digits. The Crusaders shoot for win No. 4 on Monday at St. Jude.

     “These guys have really exceeded my expectations,” Alexander said. “But that shows what you can do when you play hard, you take pride in your defense and you play together as a team. If you do those things, you can overcome some of the weaknesses you may have.

     “That was a good win,” Alexander said. “(Lookout Valley) was the best team we’ve played so far. It was a very good test for us. The schedule actually set up pretty well for us, even though two of our first three games have been on the road. We’ve been able to win these first few games and get some confidence, which is a good thing because our schedule is going to get tougher as we get deeper into the season.”

Stats

Darius Akridge 16 points

Johnny Goodman 11 points

Darius Shannon 8 points

Seth Hickman 4 points

Jordan Long 2 points

    The Crusaders were still able to handle their business, though, whipping St. Jude 39-11 to improve to 4-0.

    “I don’t know if it was the fact that it was a holiday (Martin Luther King Day), the fact that we were out of school. . . maybe we were just due for a bad shooting game,” Temple elementary coach Mark Alexander said. “I don’t know. But I can’t complain too much considering we still won by 28 points. We just got off to a real slow start. . .we couldn’t buy a shot in the first quarter. But we heated up a little bit in the second quarter. . .we started making some three’s. . .and that seemed to jumpstart us a little bit.”

    Darius Shannon led Temple with a game-high 10 points. Darius Akridge, the team’s leading scorer, was limited to a season-low nine points - although he did help his team in other ways. Namely defense.

    “He played hard as always,” Alexander said. “He comes over to the bench sometimes and looks so tired. . . like he’s run a marathon or something. I ask him if he’s OK, and he says yes, so I let him keep playing. He hurt his ankle in the fourth quarter. . . we had to take him out of the game. And a few minutes later he’s right back in there. He’s like the Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going and going.”

    Foul trouble once again hurt Temple. Starters Jordan Delashmitt, Seth Hickman and Akridge each finished the game with four fouls apiece. Once again, though, the Crusaders had a big enough lead that it mattered little.

    Temple is averaging 41 points per game and has won all four of its game by double figures.

    “We’re going to get some fouls called on us just because of the way we play,” Alexander said. “When you pick up full court, and play aggressively on defense the way we do, that’s going to happen. And some refs are going to call it tighter than others. Our first couple of games, they let us play a little. Today they seemed to call it tighter. That’s something we have to adjust to. . .that’s something I’ve talked to the players about. That said, we probably need to work on that a little bit more in practice. Playing hard, but also playing smart without fouling. We don’t have a lot of depth, so that could end up hurting us somewhere down the line.”

    The highlight of the game was Aaron Elliott scoring his first points of the season. Elliott, a well-liked reserve post, drained a 15-footer near the free throw, in the second half – drawing a wild applause from the Temple fans who made the trek to St. Jude.

    “That was great to see,” Alexander said. “Aaron was so happy. He had this wide grin on his face as he ran back down the court, and I saw him briefly look up at his dad who was sitting in the stands. We ran a play for him against Oakwood Christian and he missed a similar shot. This time, he just caught it and shot it and it went in.”

    Temple puts its unblemished mark on the line Saturday when it travels to Dade County.

    “If everything I’ve heard from other people is true, Dade County will be by far the best team we’ve played,” Alexander said. “I’m looking forward to see how we play.”

Stats

Darius Shannon 10 points

Darius Akridge 9 points

Johnny Goodman 6 points

Seth Hickman 5 points

Jordan Delashmitt 4 points

Jordan Long 3 points

Aaron Elliott 2 points

Temple wins nail-biter

     TRENTON, Ga. - After winning its first four games by double digits, Temple’s elementary team found itself in a tight, nip-and-tuck game for the first time this season on Saturday at Dade County.

    No problem.

    Seth Hickman calmly drained a long 3-pointer from the top of the key with about 10 seconds remaining to lift the Crusaders to a thrilling 32-30 road victory.

    “The clock guy had messed up and he had the score at 30-30 on the scoreboard,” Temple coach Mark Alexander said. “So I was really wanting us to hold it for the last shot. . . I didn’t know that we were actually down by one (30-29). Either way, the 3-pointer really wasn’t what we were looking for. But Seth was wide open, and he stepped into it and drained it. I was, like, ‘No. No. No. Oh, good shot. Good shot.' I’d like to say that I drew that play up but that was all Seth. It was a big-time shot.”

    Dade County still had one more possession. It missed the first, but got the ball back when Darius Shannon was tied up after getting the rebound. Dade County then ran an inbounds play and put up a shot. The shot missed, but Temple was whistled for a foul as time expired. Dade County then missed the first free throw and the game was over.

    “We were real fortunate,” Alexander said. “The last thing you want there is a 3-pointer, and the next worse thing is a foul. Luckily, for us, the kid missed it and we were able to pull it out. It really should’ve never came down to that, though. We were up by seven with two minutes to play and just lost our minds and they were able to come back and take the lead on us.

    “That said, I have to give our kids a lot of credit, especially Seth. We really haven’t had a close game, so it was the first time our kids had been in that position. That’s something we need to work on…playing with the lead late in the game. We don’t understand time and score right now.”

    Temple improved to 5-0 with four of those five wins coming on the road.

    “I never dreamed we would be undefeated at this point,” Alexander said. “To be honest, I didn’t even know if we would win five games because we lost so much off of last year’s team. But my guys have played so well. They play so hard. That’s the key. It’s not always pretty, but they play hard. Those kids deserve all the credit.”

    Johnny Goodman led Temple with 10 points. Darius Akridge added nine points, Darius Shannon 7 and Seth Hickman 6 for the Crusaders, who overcame a sluggish start by outscoring Dade County 22-13 in the second half.

    Temple’s offense was once again jumpstarted by 3-pointers. The Crusaders made six, including Hickman’s game-winner. Those 3’s helped Temple overcome a huge difference at the free throw line as Dade County shot 20, Temple just two.

    “I really didn’t like the way we came out,” Alexander said. “That’s the second game in a row that we’ve done that. The guys were fighting with themselves, and they were too worried about the officiating, too. I gathered them at halftime and told them all that was going to have to stop if we had any chance of winning. They had to put all of that bickering aside and focus on playing basketball the way we know how to play. That was probably the worst half we’ve played, and we were only down by five (15-10). And they realized that after we talked about it. After that, we settled down and played our game.”

Stats

Johnny Goodman 10 points

Darius Akridge 9 points

Darius Shannon 7 points

Seth Hickman 6 points

Temple cruises

    Led by the D&D combo, Temple’s elementary team cruised past OLPH 38-15 on Friday night at Vance Gym.

    Darius Akridge had a game-high 15 points and Darius Shannon added 12 for the Crusaders, who bounced back from their lone loss of the season to improve to 6-1 entering Saturday’s home game against Dade County.

    Johnny Goodman contributed six points and Jordan Delashmitt four points for Temple, which set the tempo for the game from the outset with it’s full-court, man-to-man pressure.

    “I don’t think my guys liked losing too much the other day,” Temple coach Mark Alexander said. “And that’s good. That means (basketball) means something to them. They came out ready to play tonight, and played really good. I challenged them in practice and before the game to get back to playing the way we were early in the year, and they did that.

    “We really got after them on defense, and we turned our defense into offense,” Alexander continued. “That’s when we’re at our best. Everybody really hustled, and that hustle paid off. It was good to see Little D (Akridge) get going again on offense. D.J. (Shannon) was huge on the boards; I bet he had 10-12 at least, and a lot of those were on the offensive end. Jordan Delashmitt was a sparkplug again, especially early on. Seth did a good job of running the team. And Johnny hit a couple of big shots in the third quarter to help us extend our lead. It was an overall team effort.”

    There were many highlights for Temple. Perhaps the most impressive was Akridge’s tip-in basket in the second half.

   “It wasn’t as good as his alley-oop layup against Lookout Valley. . . I don’t know that anything short of a dunk can top that. . . but it was still a great play,” Alexander said. “As little as he is, he rose up and tipped it in one motion. He was really on his way down when he tipped it, and he still got it to go in. He’s fun to watch.”

   Temple hosts Dade County on Saturday in a rematch of last Saturday’s game, which the Crusaders won 32-30 at Dade County.

    “We were real fortunate to win that game,” Alexander said. “Dade County has a good team; I’m sure they’re going to come in here looking for some revenge. We’ll have to be ready to play.”

Stats

Darius Akridge 15 points

Darius Shannon 12 points

Johnny Goodman 6 points

Jordan Delashmitt 4 points

Seth Hickman 1 point

Temple wins rematch

    Just over a week ago, Temple had to withstand a late rally to escape Dade County with a 32-30 victory.

    The rematch wasn’t nearly as close, thanks in large part to a dominant third quarter by the Crusaders.

    Temple led 16-11 at halftime on Saturday then outscored visiting Dade County 11-0 in the third quarter to pull away for a 30-15 victory at Vance Gym.

    “The first time we played them at their place, the game was a little too close for comfort,” Temple coach Mark Alexander said. “It came down to the final seconds and Seth (Hickman) hit a 3-pointer for us. . . then they had a chance to tie it with no time left, but their guy missed the first free throw. We didn’t want it to come down to that again. . .it was something we talked about in practice. And the guys responded the way I hoped they would.

    “We actually didn’t play that poorly in the first half, we just had a few little slipups that they capitalized on,” Alexander continued. “We corrected those at halftime, then we stepped it up a notch in the third quarter and took command.”

    It was the second win in as many days for Temple, which beat OLPH 38-15 on Friday night. The Crusaders will carry an unexpected 7-1 mark into Tuesday’s home game against Grace.

    “These guys continue to surprise me,” Alexander said. “We don’t have any height, we have very little depth, and most of these guys are playing together for the first time. But they make up for all of that by playing hard. They’re scrappy. . .they’ll get after you. It’s a good thing they do because we couldn’t win any other way."

    Johnny Goodman led Temple with a game-high 10 points. He was the only Crusader in double figures, although Seth Hickman and Darius Shannon combined for 14 points. Jordan Long also gave Temple good minutes off the bench.

    “Jordan (Long) has really improved,” Alexander said. “We always seem to have somebody in foul trouble, so (Long) gets to play just as many minutes as most of the starters. He’s like having a sixth starter. He doesn’t like the guy he’s guarding to score, either, and that’s a good attribute to have. I look for him to start scoring more, too. He had a nice drive to the basket today. . .hopefully we’ll see more of that out of him.”
    Temple has won all three of its home games by double digits this season.
    "That's a good thing for an old guy like me," Alexander joked. "I don't like those close ones. . . it's not good for the heart. We've played very well at home so far, and again that's a credit to the kids. It seems like we play with a little more energy at home. . . and we seem to shoot it a little better. We'll probably need every advantage we can take on Tuesday, too. I don't know that much about Grace, but I've heard they've got a good team."

Stats

Johnny Goodman 10 points

Darius Shannon 7 points

Seth Hickman 7 points

Darius Akridge 2 points

Jordan Long 2 points

Jordan Delashmitt 2 points

Akridge, Goodman lead way

    Darius Akridge and Johnny Goodman combined for 27 points Saturday to lead Temple’s elementary team to a 37-30 victory over Silverdale Baptist Academy at Vance Gym.

    Akridge, a guard, had 16 points, while Goodman, a post who does most of his damage on the perimeter, added 11 as the Crusaders won their fourth straight to improve to 9-1.

    Temple led 22-10 at halftime and then overcame a shaky third quarter to hold on for its fifth victory at home this season.

    “I thought we played our game in the first half,” Temple coach Mark Alexander said. “We got after them pretty good on defense and offense we attacked their 2-3 zone pretty good. I felt like we were in pretty good shape at that point. But we went a little crazy in the third quarter and got away from what had helped us build the lead. And you have to give Silverdale some credit, too. They made some adjustments and took advantage of their height advantage. All the momentum had switched to their side there for a while. But to my team’s credit, we regrouped and hit a couple of big shots, and then we were able to run out the clock late in the game. That was a good win. Silverdale has a good team.”

    It was an emotional day for Alexander, whose stepson, Parker Monroe, plays for Silverdale.

    “It was weird looking down there and seeing him,” Alexander said. “It was a big deal around our house all week. He and his mom have seen us play this year, and they’ve been talking noise about how (Silverdale) was better than us and how (Silverdale) was going to beat us. It would’ve been hard for me to go home had we lost. I think that was one reason I was so hard on my guys Saturday. . . yelling at them and all. . .I didn’t want to lose that game.”

    After Silverdale cut Temple’s 12-point lead to four points in the second half, Goodman responded with two 3-pointers and Akridge added one as well to help the Crusaders fend off the Seahawks’ comeback bid.

    “I was getting a little nervous at the end,” Alexander said. “They were scoring so easily and we were having to work for every point we were getting. And like I said earlier, the momentum had switched to Silverdale’s side. But my guys found a way to win, just like they have all season. They still fight with each other way too much. . . I spend half of our timeouts trying to get them to stop arguing with each other. . . but they’ve come a long way. They’re a joy to coach.”

Stats

Darius Akridge 16 points

Johnny Goodman 11 points

Darius Shannon 4 points

Seth Hickman 3 points

Jordan Delashmitt 3 points

Temple loses in OT

    Temple’s elementary basketball team saw its four-game winning streak halted on Monday as host Boyd-Buchanan escaped with a 31-27 overtime victory.

    The Crusaders had a two-point lead in the waning seconds only to see the Bucs score on a driving layup to send the game into overtime. Once again, the Crusaders briefly held the lead in overtime, but the Bucs scored on a pair of putbacks and a steal late to secure the victory.

    Each team entered having only lost one game – each losing to first-place Belvoir Christian.

    “It was a tough way to lose,” Temple coach Mark Alexander said. “But, you know, we’ve probably should’ve lost to Grace the other day and we won. Today, I felt like we probably should’ve won. .  .no disrespect to Boyd. .  .but we lost. Those things tend to even out sometimes. Sometimes you win those close ones, sometimes you lose them. Today was just our day to be on the short end. Give Boyd all the credit. They made the plays they needed to make at the end of the game to win it, and we didn’t. They've got a really good team.

    “My guys played so hard, like they always do," Alexander continued. "It looked to me like we got tired at the end of the game. Boyd kept running guys in and out and we only have seven. . . I think that was a factor at the end. All the loose balls we had been getting to, now all of a sudden they were getting to. And Boyd’s size was a factor, too. They got a lot of offensive rebounds, including those two in the overtime that led to baskets.”

    Temple slipped to 9-2 despite 16 points from Darius Akridge.

    Temple led by five points at the end of the first quarter and led by one point at halftime. Boyd led by one at the end of the third quarter, setting up a back-and-forth, frantic fourth quarter.

    “Our shots weren't falling today. . . I think we only hit one or two and we normally hit five or six. We had a lot of turnovers, too, that really cost us,” Alexander said. “Some of that was us just not taking care of the basketball. Some of that was on me. I should’ve done a better job of coaching, and putting my guys in a better position to win, offensively and defensively. I should’ve done some things differently. I’ll take the blame for this loss. . .I’m certainly not going to blame the kids. They gave it everything they had, and that’s all I can ask for."

Stats

Darius Akridge 16 points

Seth Hickman 6 points

Johnny Goodman 2 points

Darius Shannon 2 points

Jordan Delashmitt 1 point

Temple wins at Grace

    The seedings for the upcoming ISC Tournament were already set prior to Thursday’s season-ending Temple-Grace game at Grace.

    So, the outcome of the game didn’t have any bearing on either team’s tournament seed. That mattered little, however. It was still Temple-Grace.

    Temple was aiming for a regular season sweep of Grace and an 11^th win. Grace, meanwhile, was looking to avenge an earlier season loss to Temple in which it lost after losing a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.

    The results?  Temple fell behind early, regrouped to take a somewhat comfortable lead and then held on for a 26-21 victory in a game in which both teams struggled mightily on the offensive end.

    Darius Akridge came up big for Temple (11-2), scoring a team-high 12 points – all coming in the final three quarters. Johnny Goodman contributed eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the first half to help his team overcome an early 4-0 deficit.

    While Temple elementary coach Mark Alexander wasn’t pleased with his team’s offensive execution, he was pleased to exit with a road win – albeit an ugly road win.

    “I think it was a combination of things,” Alexander said. “First, Grace has a good team. Secondly, we hadn’t played in a while, and we haven’t had a lot of practice time. We were kind of rushed getting over to Grace for a 4 o’clock tip, too and we really didn’t have a good warmup. And I thought Grace did a good job of making some adjustments and taking us out of some of the things we like to do. It was just one of those games. .  .we couldn’t get anything going. Fortunately, we were able to pull it out. . . mainly because of our defense.

    “Again, that’s a credit to the kids,” Alexander continued. “They have found ways to win all season, and they did the same thing again today. We’re going to have to play better, especially offensively, if we’re going to do anything in the tournament. Our defense was pretty good in spots, but we’ve got some work to do on offense. Twenty-six points isn’t going to cut it.”

    Temple will be the third seed for the ISC Tournament, which will begin on Tuesday at Belvoir Christian. Ironically, the Crusaders will play Grace, the sixth seed, in the opening round. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15. The winner of that game will advance to play No. 2 seed Boyd-Buchanan, who received a bye along with top-seed Belvoir Christian.

    Belvoir Christian and Boyd-Buchanan handed Temple its lone losses this season.

    “It should be an interesting tournament,” Alexander said. “I hope my guys are looking forward to it. . . they’ve had an outstanding regular season. We would like another shot at Boyd and Belvoir. But, for that to happen, we’ve got to get past Grace first. And that’s not going to be easy. Grace has a good team. We’ve been fortunate to beat them the first two times. . . we were able to hit some shots when we needed them. It’s always tough to beat a good team three times in one season, too. We’ll have to play or we’ll be going home early.”

Stats

Darius Akridge 12 points

Johnny Goodman 8 points

Darius Shannon 4 points

Seth Hickman 2 points

OT loss ends season

    Tennessee Temple seemed to be in pretty good shape in Tuesday’s ISC  Tournament opener against Grace, leading by six points at halftime.

    That’s when the fun – and the season – ended for the Crusaders.

    Grace outscored Temple 15-9 in the second half to force overtime then blanked the Crusaders 8-0 in OT to rally for a 35-27 victory.

    Temple, which defeated Grace twice during the regular season, finished 11-3.

    “By no means did I think the game was over, but I felt pretty good about our chances, even into the third quarter,” Temple coach Mark Alexander said. “But then our shots stopped falling and the momentum switched to Grace’s side. They’re much taller than us, and their size just took over down the stretch, offensively and defensively. They were just throwing it up and going and getting it in the fourth quarter. It was like they were playing volleyball. There was nothing we could do.”

    After a missed free throw in the waning seconds, Temple had one last chance to win it in regulation but never got a shot off. In overtime, the Crusaders fell behind by four points and were forced to foul in the closing minute, sending Grace to the free throw line where it cashed in.

    Darius Akridge led Temple with 11 points, including three 3-pointers. Johnny Goodman added nine points, also connecting on three 3-pointers.

    “I wish we could’ve at least got a shot up at the end of regulation, you never know,” Alexander said. “But we didn’t. Like I said earlier, Grace had the momentum at that point, and it carried over into overtime. You have to give Grace all the credit. They came out in the second half and took the game. It looked they wanted it more than we did. Maybe it’s because we beat them both times during the season, I don’t know.”

    While Alexander was disappointed with the loss, he was more than pleased with his team’s season overall. The Crusaders, with just one lone returning starter from last year’s stellar team, won 11 games and lost just three. Two of those losses came to the top two teams in the 10-team league – undefeated Belvoir Christian and one-loss Boyd Buchanan (OT) – and the third was Tuesday’s OT loss to Grace in the tournament.

    “It’s may sound like a cop out because we lost, but I put a lot more stock in a 13-game regular season than I do in one tournament game,” Alexander said. “These guys had a fantastic regular season. Nobody expected them to go 11-2. We just happened to lose in the first round of the tournament to a good Grace team, a team we beat twice during the regular season.

    “We’re disappointed we lost. . . we would love to still be playing,” Alexander continued. “But it’s like I told the guys after the game, they shouldn’t let one loss take away from what they accomplished during the regular season. I really enjoyed coaching these guys; they were a good group to work with. It was a fun ride.”

Stats

Darius Akridge 11

Johnny Goodman 9

Darius Shannon 4

Seth Hickman 2

Jordan Delashmitt 1