Last Tuesday, February 8th, Friends Select School (FSS) played Friends’ Central School (FCS), fighting to the last buzzer to secure the 66-62 win, leaving FSS with a Friends School League record of 3-2, and FCS’s record 1-4. 

FSS Head Coach Percell Coles said, “during practice, we focused mainly on defense.” The players brought that mindset into this game, which was evident in their play because of their lockdown zone defense. Christian Kirkland ‘23 earned a double double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

To start the game, FCS won the jump ball. Marley Ewell ‘23, however, promptly stole the ball and scored the first two points of the game. Drawing eight team fouls in just the first half, FSS received easy points to keep it close. The first half ended with FSS in the lead by a score of 35-33.

Finally getting into the flow of the game, FSS only allowed nine points in the third quarter. Temir Davis ‘23 capitalized on his team’s excellent defense to go on and score seven points in the third quarter, half of FSS’s overall points in quarter three. 

With about 10 seconds remaining in the game, both FCS’s Head Coach Michael Cook Jr. and one of FCS’s assistant coaches received technical fouls for arguing with a referee. This resulted in Quaye Agoyo ‘22 taking four crucial free throws. Though he only sank two of them, that was enough to make FCS start intentionally fouling. Despite this tactic, FCS only managed to foul Christian who went on to miss both free throws.

FSS maintained their lead from the end of the first half to win the game 66-62. When asked what led to his team’s win, Coach Percell alluded to foul shots being an integral element.  He later stated, “we shot 80% from the foul line.”