BY CHARLES CHANEY
Not often you see a freshman contributing at the varsity level so early in the season. It’s not often they’re your leading scorer, either.
Freshman Beckham Stoops scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half as Augusta a second fourth quarter comeback to knock off No. 7 Abilene, 59-55, in their home opener
The Orioles are now 2-0 to start the season for the first time since the start of the 2019-20 season that was eventually cancelled due to COVID.
“Going into the season, we knew we were going to be super young,” Augusta head coach Ryan Petty said. “The goal was to compete, but our young and inexperienced kids have just really stepped up and made plays. We’re really happy how we started the season.”
Abilene had already showcased their sharp-shooting ability earlier this week, beating Circle with the 3-ball. However, Augusta’s defense closed out on defenders, kept fighting through screens and did a great job of limiting second chance opportunities as Abilene was just 2 of 16 in the second half. Augusta’s defense had them miss their last eight from deep.
“We’re a big man to man team,” Petty said. “We work on defense every single day. I knew we’d be better just with the skill level that we have coming in, but been very happy with the defense, and our guys have locked in and guarded.”
“Our young guys when they were growing up, they played a lot of man to man defense. Their youth coaches are Beckham stoops’s dad. He’s coach them since he was in the fourth grade. A lot of young kids run zone defense but they know they’ve been playing man to man for forever, so nice, they know they know where to be.”
This Orioles’ team that sports only two seniors, David Sullivan and Gavin Ralston, had already showed a comeback last week at Goddard, outscoring the Lions by 13 in the fourth quarter to steal a win out west. It was once again their defense that helped fuel them to the come from behind win.
When you’re this young, sometimes you have ‘trial by fire’ learning moments and for now, the Orioles are finding out ways to do it.
“We have a real mixture our top eight,” Petty said. “We have two seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. Yeah, that’s our rotation. It’s blending together pretty well so far.”
Abilene made them work for it in the first half as the Cowboys jumped out to a 16-11 lead midway through the first half. Then, the shots started falling as the Orioles would hit six of their next eight, taking a 27-24 lead. Abilene would hit two 3s to tie it at the break off a buzzer beater from half court by Levi Evans, tying it at 30-all.
The Orioles are known for their intentional approach to their offense and it may seem slow to some but everything has a purpose. The Orioles ran their offense, using the shot clock to limit opportunities on the other side. In turn, Augusta was very efficient, shooting 57 percent from the floor, including going 10 of 15 (66 percent) in the second half.
“We’ve always tried to play for the last shot,” Petty said. “We try to use everything to our advantage. In the past, we’ve been so methodical because there was no shot clock and we want to get a great shot. Now there is a shot clock and we’re now trying to get the best first shot we can get. We’re trying to play those mini games and kind of games where we give ourselves the best chance to win.”
I mean, we’re trying to use we’ve always done that. We’ve always tried to play for the last shot. We try to go two for one. We try to use everything to our advantage. You know, we’ve all in the past, we’ve been so methodical, because there was a shot clock and we want to get a great shot. Now there is a shot box door. We’re trying to get the best first shot we can get. And then, like I said, we’re trying to play those mini games, and kind of games where we give ourselves the best chance to win. Alright?
In the third is when Stoops found his rhythm. The freshman hit a corner three, drove to the rim and put the Cowboys on their heels. He scored 10 alone in the third, helping the Orioles to stay with Abilene, trailing by a point heading into the fourth.
“Kind of ironic our junior Brody Haskell was the one tha comes to mind because he started as a freshman against Goddard,” Petty said. “What was so fun to see there is a picture one of our parents that shows Brody and Beckham against Goddard smiling together.”
“You don’t see [freshman starting at 4A] very often. He came in and he’s game ready and to play at this level, he’s confident and to put up 22 on 14 shots, he’s help us get these wins.”
Then, the defense took over.
While Abilene’s Tyler Holloway was able to use his size, to score… he was the only one that could for Abilene. He scored all eight fourth quarter points while the rest of the team couldn’t find the bottom of the bucket.
Augusta on the other hands was ripe with contributions across the board. Junior Brody Haskell lived at the line all evening and eventually hit a top of the key 3 with 2:48 to put the Orioles up 55-53. He’d then, hit two more free throws with 1:10 remaining to put Augusta up for good.
Haskell finished with 17 points, with him going 8 of 10 at the line on the night.
“That’s what he has to do for us,” Petty said of Haskell’s game on Friday night. “He played all 32 minutes. He also was our punter and kicker in football. We beat Abilene for our only win and he didn’t come off the field in that one and made the game-winning field goal. Last night, he didn’t come off, played all 32 minutes and hit two game-winning free throws to put us up. He’s just an absolute stud.”
The Orioles held Abilene to 6 of 27 from the 3-point line and only 37.7 percent as a team. Abilene was only 9 of 26 in the second half from the field. Augusta was 21 of 37 from the field (56.8 percent) and were 7 of 16 from beyond the arc.
The Orioles travel to Mulvane on Tuesday and round out the first semester portion of the schedule on Friday at home vs. Winfield.
Augusta 59, Abilene 55
Abilene 14; 16; 17; 8 – 55
Augusta 11; 19; 16; 13 – 59
Abilene (2-1): 55
Holloway 3 5-9 – 19; Crump 1 (2) 3-3 – 11; Evans 2 (2) 1-2 – 11; Funston 3 0-0 – 6; Rock 1 0-0 – 2; Keener 0 (1) 0-0 – 3; Becker 0 (1) 0-0 – 3. TOTALS: 14 (6) 9-14 – 55.
Augusta: (2-0): 59
Stoops 4 (4) 2-2 – 22; Haskell 3 (1) 8-10; Martin 4 0-1 – 8; Sullivan 1 (2) 0-0 – 5; Carrell 0 (1) 0-0 – 3; Roberts 1 0-0 – 2; Chappell 1 0-0 – 2. TOTALS: 14 (7) 10-13 – 59.
