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Spartans snap losing streak, top Prince Avenue Christian - Oconee Enterprise

After the final buzzer sounded to end last Friday’s Athens Academy-Prince Avenue Christian School boys basketball game, members of the Spartans student section rushed the court.
It led to a boisterous celebration inside the Sinkwich Spartan Center. The students remained on the hardwood for several minutes, taking pictures with the Spartan players and soaking in a close rivalry victory.
Because when the Spartans upended Prince Avenue Christian 55-54, it gave the team and its fans a celebratory moment after a recent run of discouraging losses.
“It felt amazing,” Athens Academy senior John Hays said. “We haven't been doing too well recently and it was awesome to get a win over our rivals. It felt great, and I think the fans were pretty excited, too.”
The rival teams traded blows early in the action.
Turnovers and fouls hampered Prince Avenue Christian during the first quarter while Athens Academy used some big shots to take a 16-9 lead by the end of the period.
Prince Avenue Christian reduced the lead to 19-13 by the 6:08 mark of the second quarter, but the Spartans enjoyed a 28-20 halftime advantage.
The Wolverines found a better groove during the third period and cut the lead down to 38-32 by the time that quarter ended on a buzzer-beating shot by Josh Britt.
Things remained close during the fourth quarter. Keon Rodgers nailed a 3-pointer soon after the fourth period began, drawing the Wolverines closer at 38-35.
A flurry of offense by both teams led to a 42-35 score less than one minute into the final stanza.
Rodgers sank a couple of more 3-pointers to give the Wolverines a final chance, but a 10-point effort by Hays helped give the Spartans enough of an advantage to withstand the comeback bid.
Despite a last-second 3-pointer by the Wolverines, Athens Academy got the win to snap an eight-game skid.
“We knew with every loss we were getting better,” Spartans sophomore Kymel Williams said. “Even though we didn't have the most points at the end of the game, we knew we were setting ourselves up for a nice comeback for the next one. This happened to be the one that we capitalized on.”
Athens Academy head coach Michael Salvia was pleased by the response of his players despite the recent losing streak.
“All credit to them,” Salvia said. “We practice hard every day and, in a couple of games, we've gotten unlucky and we've gotten off to slow starts. We wanted to make sure that we got off to a good, quick start [against Prince Avenue Christian] and we did that. We were able to play from in front for once. It's a different feeling than catching up. We were happy about that.”
Hays led the Spartans with 18 points. Ben Shar dropped 12 points while Isaac Rorey and Williams each scored 10. Michael Nasworthy had 3 points and Westbrook Adams had 2 points.
The Spartans were on the winning side of the 1-point game, but they had opportunities to increase their lead – particularly at the foul line.
In total, Athens Academy missed 13 free throws throughout the game.
Williams said afterward that “we can’t have that many” missed free throws and Hays agreed. Salvia said he believes the misses are due to a lack of experience for his young team.
“You would think that we don't shoot free throws in practice but we spend what I think is a significant amount of time in practice on free throws,” Salvia said. “I think it just comes down to experience. A lot of these guys haven't been in those moments before where all eyes are on them and the opposing crowd is yelling at them and screaming at them, and their opponents are on the foul line talking to them. It's just gonna come down to experience. You can make as many as you want in practice but, until you get game reps, you don't know what it's like.”
After taking on Loganville Christian this past Tuesday after press time, the Spartans will host Athens Christian this Friday. That game will kick off the second half of region play.
With those crucial games and the ensuing Region 8-A-Private tournament on the horizon, Salvia said he hopes his players will keep in mind the thrill of winning a big game.
“Just remember that feeling,” he said. “Remember the feeling of winning. If you remember how you feel when you win versus how you feel when you lose, I'd much rather have that winning feeling. I think that is a message we gave them postgame and I hope that can carry through.”
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Athens Academy is an independent, co-educational school for students in K3 through 12th grade, located on a beautiful 152-acre campus in Northeast Georgia. For over 50 years, Athens Academy has pursued its mission of Excellence with Honor through academics, athletics, fine arts, and service and leadership.