Spartans learning from early-season lumps - Oconee Enterprise

The good news for Athens Academy is that its football team reached the second round of the Class A state playoffs.

The bad news for Athens Academy is that the football team’s success means the boys basketball team is temporarily shorthanded. Several key members of the Spartans basketball team are also football players, meaning Athens Academy’s first few basketball games are coming without most of their regular starters.

Michael Salvia, the Athens Academy boys basketball coach, said the experience being earned by the current makeup of the basketball team will pay off down the road.

“Despite the scorelines, I feel good,” Salvia said about the team’s 0-3 start. “With what our guys are doing and the product that we're putting out there, our goal is to get better every day. ... As long as we keep that progression going, once we get to full strength, I think we're gonna be a pretty good basketball team.”

Athens Academy opened the season by participating in the annual Andy Landers Invitational, held last Monday and Tuesday at North Oconee High School. The Spartans lost to North Oconee (91-42) and Starr’s Mill (83-43) in those games. This past Monday, they returned from Thanksgiving break and fell at Westminster Christian 62-36.

Those final scores are not the envy of any basketball team. However, Salvia said the players who are on the court right now will be better equipped because of the grueling start.

“I think it helps tremendously,” Salvia said. “That's why we scheduled the way we did. We scheduled pretty tough for us to let our guys get into the fire early and see what it's gonna take. Let's take our lumps, let's get better because of it, and it'll only help us going forward.”

The team showed early signs of progress during the game against Starr’s Mill.

Athens Academy fell behind 16-2 with 1:31 left in the first quarter. The Spartans faced a 24-4 deficit entering the second quarter.

They were down 46-19 at halftime. Then, the team picked up the pace on offense after intermission.

The Spartans had their deficit down to 69-37 by the end of the third quarter.

Starr’s Mill improved its lead by the final score, but Salvia liked the fight he saw out of his team in the second half.

“I thought we woke up,” Salvia said. “I thought we played scared for a little bit and we got our shot blocked a couple of times and we get dunked on and we started to feel sorry for ourselves. But when we woke up a little bit and just started to play and be loose, the ball started to bounce our way.”

Eventually, the Spartans will be at full strength. Whenever that time comes, Salvia said he hopes the team will jell and improve.

That’s because Salvia has high hopes for the 2020-21 season. When asked what his goals are, Salvia was quick to respond.

“Win the region and win state,” he said. “That's our goal every year. The fun part is the journey getting there.”