Faith Christian soars past Naperville Christian for double-digit wins

Greg Betzelos' 27 points propelled Faith Christian Academy to a 22-point lead en route to a 51-38 varsity victory over Naperville Christian Academy's 7th- and 8th-grade team, while Ben Riner's 14 points paced the JV Falcons to a 33-20 win over Naperville's 6th- and 7th-grade squad on Monday at FCA. Good job, Falcons!

The varsity (2-1) broke open a close game at the end of the first quarter. With the score tied at 10, Greg made a pair of layups, and Ben added a pull-up jumper to push Faith ahead 16-10. The Falcons then cranked up their defensive pressure, forcing a series of bad shots and turnovers in the second quarter that FCA converted into several fast-break baskets and free throws for a 37-19 halftime lead. The Falcons also executed their halfcourt plays with precision as Greg scored off a give and go with Ben and then scored again on a screen and roll with Ben for a pair of layups.

The only downsides to Faith's performance were its defense on Naperville's point guard, who scored a game-high 28 points on 12-of-24 shooting, and several turnovers in the fourth quarter with Greg out after we built a 22-point lead. But the team will continue working on improving its defense, passing and ballhandling with Rotolo Middle School coming up on the schedule.

Ben earned the hustle award while Greg and Cole won the best attitude award. Congratulations, guys. For full game stats, visit https://www.gamechanger.io/game-528a0f499afc099eb30002d2/plays/home.

The Falcons' fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade JV squad (2-0) started slowly with some passive defense and sloppy offensive execution in the opener against a team of 6th- and 7th-graders. Naperville and Faith were tied at 10 at halftime, and NCA briefly led 12-10 early in the third quarter.

But FCA turned up its effort and focus in the third quarter, outscoring the visitors 12-2 to open the second half behind a more assertive defense and a more aggressive offense. Ben delivered six of his game-high 15 points in the quarter to lead Faith, while Chris Nosewicz added four points and Cole two points.

Leading 24-16 early in the fourth quarter, Faith put the game away by outscoring Naperville 9-4 the rest of the way. Led by Ben's adept ballhandling and passing, the Falcons shredded Naperville's full-court press, resulting in back-to-back baskets from Chris and Ben, and Cole and Ethan Winkler added buckets in the lane to push the lead to double digits. For more stats, visit https://www.gamechanger.io/game-528a0f499afc0991bb000002/plays/home.

Ben and Cole earned the hustle award, and Chris and Ethan shared the best attitude award.

FCA (4-1 overall) practices Tuesday and Wednesday till 5:15 to keep improving as a team and individually and to prepare for Thursday's 4:15 7th-grade tilt at Rotolo Middle School in Batavia.