Faith Christian boys basketball coach Steve Guerry believed cutting down the net was an attainable goal when the winter began. Those championship dreams became reality in late February.
Faith Christian claimed its first state title Feb. 25, using a dominant first half to take control of the SCISA Class A final at Sumter Civic Center. The Knights raced out to a 30-11 lead in the first two quarters and cruised past Richard Winn, 54-40, to win it all.
"It's great to finish the job," Guerry said. "I told the guys the hard part was over. The hard part was getting here, giving up your summers, Christmas vacations and time with your friends. Today was the fun part. We just focused on having to win one game."
Faith Christian finished the season 27-2.
After the torrid opening 16 minutes, the Knights scored the first bucket of the second half to push their lead to 21 and Richard Winn never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
"We thought we had a pretty good defensive game plan put together," Guerry said. "We got some stops and hit some shots. Sometimes it's not complicated.”
Senior guard Omari Johnson scored 13 points while senior guard Matterius Bell chipped in nine points for the Knights. The backcourt duo powered Faith Christian all winter and continued that role on both ends of the floor in the finale.
Guerry hates to see them go along with classmates Josiah Ortiz and Eric McClary.
"You can rank them 1-2, 1A-1B or however you want to," Guerry said. "They're great kids and great defenders. We're going to miss them."
Underclassmen rose to the challenge in the championship, too, providing a hint the 2023-24 Knights may have a squad that can get back to Sumter. Sophomore guard Elijah Brown scored 11 points and sophomore forward Will Watts tallied 10 points while grabbing 14 rebounds. Freshman forward Christian Hewett chipped in six points.
"We've got some sophomores on the bench who are very capable," Guerry said. "They just don't get a lot of playing time because of who is front of them. They're chomping at the bit to go next year. Our JV only lost a couple games, and a lot of our JV players would be starters on other people's varsity teams. The cupboard is far from bare."
