Faith Baptist Squeezes Past L.A. Baptist

After L. A. Baptist High barely squeezed into the Southern Section 1-A Division playoffs, the Knights barely missed knocking Faith Baptist from postseason play Wednesday night at Faith Baptist.

L. A. Baptist (17-8), which finished fourth in the Alpha League, had a chance to advance to the second round of the playoffs, but Brett Craig’s three-point attempt from the baseline clanked off the front of the rim as time expired, allowing Faith Baptist to escape with a 43-42 victory.

Faith Baptist (18-5) took a seven-point halftime lead but led only 32-29 after three quarters. The Contenders faltered slightly in the final period, allowing the Knights to tie the score, 38-38, with 3:32 remaining. But the Contenders scored the next four points and led, 42-38, with 1:44 left.

Craig then pulled L. A. Baptist to within one with 1:10 to play when he nailed a three-point shot from the baseline.

After point guard Dave Hairston made a free throw with 44 seconds left to give the Contenders a 43-41 lead, L. A. Baptist guard Dave Garcia had a chance to tie the score with 10 seconds left but converted only the first of two free throws.

Faith Baptist was led by a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds from 6-foot-10 center Jason Henderson.

Faith Baptist, which beat the Knights, 54-40, in December, fell prey to L. A. Baptist’s slow pace in the second half.

“We’re usually a fast-breaking team,” Contender Coach Dean Lobdell said. “They slowed us down a little bit and my guys got pretty tired.”

Faith Baptist took a 10-6 first-quarter lead and increased the advantage to 20-11 with 2:39 remaining in the half after a 10-5 run sparked by Henderson’s six points.

Craig, who finished with a game-high 24 points, scored eight of his team’s 12 third-quarter points to lead the Knights’ second-half surge.

Garcia had 12 assists for the Knights (17-8). Contender forward Tim Erwing had nine rebounds.

L.A. Baptist was 17 of 47 (36.2%) from the field and seven of 12 (58.3%) from the free-throw line. Faith Baptist shot 34.5% (19 of 55) from the field.