Paying tribute to their former head coach and mentor, the First Presbyterian Christian Academy boys varsity basketball team made a brief stop Thursday afternoon at the grave of Ernie Walthour.
Walthour died in July 2013 when he was shot to death during an alleged armed robbery.
The boys then headed to Eatonton, where they beat Windsor Academy, 81-60, to advance to round two of the state tournament.
Months after Walthour’s death, his friend Shane Smith was named the Highlanders’ new head coach. Smith said he wanted to carry on the work that Walthour started and bring the FPCA boys to their fourth state title.
Thursday night, the boys got one game closer to Smith’s goal.
Currently, FPCA is 21-2 overall and were 10-0 in the Georgia Independent School Association’s Region 2-AA, earning their sixth straight region title last week. They beat Trinity Christian, 53-42.
The boys were scheduled to play Terrell Academy on Saturday night in round two. Results from that game were not available by press time. The Courier will post the final score on Facebook when it’s available.

FPCA top scorers: Wallace Smith 29, Miguel Pineda 19, Ahman Muhammad 12, Domonique Kirkley 7, Michael Burnett 6, Jah’Leel Allen and Richard Smith 3 each, and Frederick Heaggans 2