Jaquez Motley leapt, tossed and dunked his way to 30 points to lead the Faith Baptist Crusaders to a 95-43 win over visiting Bible Baptist Tuesday night in Ludowici.
The victory gives the Long County team an 8-0 record as they set their sights on getting a seventh state title in the Georgia Christian Athletic Association’s Class AA. They already have six in a row.
Motley, JJ Frazier, Aaron Power, Jamil Donovan and Tracey Jester lit up the boards, closing the first quarter up 28-5.
In the second quarter Power sank four back-to-back trey shots. He had six for the evening. Motley and Frazier were three and four from the three-point line in the game, respectively.
The Crusaders never relinquished the lead, even when the second and then third units were brought in off the bench. They led 59-20 by half and 78-35 in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Zach Miller nailed in two more trey shots and Andre Cammack and Khiry James added more three-pointers to keep the Crusaders far ahead of the Bible Braves.
"We’ve been playing real well," Crusaders coach Jared Sellars said after the game. "I have two returning seniors but everybody from last season minus one player returned this season. I also picked up three new kids."
Returning veterans include Power and Jester, who are seniors this year.
"I also picked up a new player, who is a senior, in Jamil Donovan," the coach said. "He’s 6’9" and has really helped us out on the inside."
The Crusaders were scheduled to play region opponent Open Bible Christian Academy in Valdosta yesterday, but everyone in the Ludowici community is looking at tonight’s game against non-region First Presbyterian Christian Academy."I think it’s a good rivalry," Sellars said. "These guys play pickup ball together all the time and they are friends, but it’s a good friendly rivalry. I hope we play well against them and I hope we win. They are a really good team and they are well coached. They beat us twice last year but maybe we’ll get them this year. We are playing a little bit more up tempo and they are playing a little bit more controlled."
First Presbyterian Christian Academy is under the Georgia Independent School Association and is currently 7-0. It has not lost a game since Feb. 15, 2008.
Players from Faith Baptist and First Presbyterian have grown up alongside each other, some even playing AAU summer ball together.
Tonight’s game will decide who stays undefeated and garner local bragging rights.
Regardless of the outcome, Sellars said he thinks FPCA will cruise to another state title in their classification. He thinks his team will do the same.
"We won state last year and that was six in a row for us," he said. "I think we’ll walk through and win our state again."
The girls tip-off first at 6:30 and the boys game will likely tip-off around 8 p.m. The game will be at the St. James Sports Center in the Holmestown community in Liberty County.