Prep Basketball BOYS : Faith Baptist Leaves Crossroads in the Dark

The lights went out in the Faith Baptist High gym Tuesday night and Crossroads High, the opponent for the evening, should have taken the cue to slip out the back door.

The incident happened with 3:50 left in the first half, and Crossroads trailing, 29-12. But instead of making a quick exit, the Roadrunners stayed only to see things get worse.

After a nine-minute wait, the lights returned and Faith Baptist went on to a 74-51 Delphic League victory.

All-Southern Section center Gerald Thomas scored a game-high 23 points and also had 15 rebounds to lead Faith Baptist, ranked sixth in the Southern Section’s 1-A Division, to its 14th straight victory and its first ever over Crossroads.

Thomas didn’t seem too surprised by the outcome, even though the Roadrunners were ranked third in the same poll.

“I knew this was going to be our game,” he said. “We were ready, but I also think we caught them on a bad night. We’ll find out Friday, when we play them at their place, whether it was a fluke or not. I don’t think it was.”

Forward Fernando McClean added 18 points and point guard Brian Estrada chipped in 14 points and 11 assists to help Coach Mark Trammell’s Contenders improve their overall record to 14-2. The win also gives Faith Baptist a perfect 4-0 league mark, good enough for first place. Crossroads is 4-1 and 12-7.