Word of God deals Eagles first loss

by John Lucas | Nov 18, 2020 | Cape Fear Christian Academy

Truman Claytor scores for the Eagles on Wednesday night.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Cape Fear Christian Academy’s varsity boys basketball team suffered its first loss of the season, 79-65, against visiting Word of God Christian Academy on Wednesday.

Despite the loss, CFCA coach Steve Mims, Jr. said he was proud of the effort his team showed.

“Perseverence,” Mims said. “We didn’t concede. We competed. We worked hard. We just didn’t execute as well. That’s all. I’m not upset with the effort. I think we’re going the right direction.

“It’s a situation where we started out way too slow and there was too much to come back from. I expected to be tested and see where we are, so this was a good matchup for us.”

Cinque Lemon led all scorers with 31 points, Truman Claytor had 13 points and Amari Pearson had 10 points to lead the Eagles (6-1).

Jabare Perry and Caden Bell had four points apiece and Zeke Brock had three points.

Po Boigh King had 26 points, Dylan Purnell had 15 points and Tai Smith had 13 points to pace the Holy Rams (1-0).

Early in the second quarter, the Rams held a 32-11 lead, before the Eagles scored 12 unanswered to cut the lead back to single digits. But Word of God ended the quarter on 16-5 run to lead 48-28 at the half.

With Word of God still holding a 20-point lead, at 59-39, late in the third, Cape Fear Christian scored 11 unanswered to cut the lead to single digits again. But nine was the closest the score would get, as the Rams held off the Eagles down the stretch.

“The effort is there,” Mims said. “The issue is just we’re young. People have expectations for us to be really, really good early because of our size and talent. But we’ve got to learn how to win. Our talent is going to get us wins at times, but we’ve got to learn. So, we need these situations.”

Mims said he thought playing such stiff competition in non-conference play would benefit the Eagles once they get into the heart of Sandhills Athletic Conference play.

“We’ll be ready,” Mims said. “The more familiar you are with the circumstances, the better you are to respond. I think that our schedule is going to put us in a place where we have more experience and are going to be a little bit more prepared than everybody else. And you just really want to have a competitive edge in that circumstance. So, this is not a loss, it’s just a lesson. It’s learning where we’re at and how far we’ve got to go.”

Cape Fear Christian is at home against South Wake (0-2) on Monday.

“We get to actually rest and actually have some practices (CFCA played five games in six days the week prior),” Mims said. “We haven’t really had any. So, this is a situation where we can actually go over some things and make some adjustments and fine tune some stuff.”