Nation Ford’s boys and girls squads earn a pair of wins at Border Battle

Both the Nation Ford boys’ and girls’ basketball teams opened the season with two wins each at the Border Battle at Marvin Ridge High in North Carolina.

Nation Ford’s squads beat both Cuthbertson and host Marvin Ridge to start the season 2-0.

The boys’ team was dominating in both their wins, beating Cuthbertson 75-34 and Marvin Ridge 70-50. The Falcons were led by Khydarius Smith against Marvin Ridge as he scored 19 points, 12 of those coming in the first quarter as Nation Ford opened the game 17-0 and jumped out to a 28-2 lead after the first quarter. Nation Ford had a 55-20 lead at the half, struggled some in the second half and was outscored 30-15. Shaman Alston added 11 for Nation Ford as well.

Against Cuthbertson, Nation Ford used a 24-8 second quarter run to go up 38-13 at the half and again didn’t look back in the second half. Zeb Graham led the Falcons with 15 points and Sean McCade added 10 points in the win. Nation Ford hit 31 shots from the field against Cuthbertson, including eight 3-pointers.

In both wins, the Falcons used fast starts to put the game out of reach early, but still rotated their starters in and out of the lineup, giving their bench players ample playing time.

Girls’ games close

For Nation Ford’s girls, the games were much closer, but the Falcons were still able to assert their aggressive style of play in the wins. Nation Ford beat Cuthbertson 45-29 and Marvin Ridge 51-37.

Against Marvin Ridge, Nation Ford was led by three players in double figures in Sami Tuipulotu, who led with 14 points. Amiah Lindsay had 12 and Ellona Moulds scored 12. The Falcons started both the third and fourth quarters on 6-0 runs to pull away from Marvin Ridge and outscored the host school 23-10 in the third quarter.

In the win over Cuthbertson, the Falcons started fast and ended fast, scoring 14 points in both the first and fourth quarters. Moulds led Nation Ford with 11 points and Lindsay added 10 points in the win. The Falcons struggled with turnovers in the early going of the game, but were able to regroup and take a six-point lead into the half. They extended that lead entering the fourth quarter as they held a 31-23 lead.

Nation Ford will travel to Boiling Springs and Gaffney for games this week. The Falcons will open their home schedule against Boiling Springs Dec. 5 with the girls’ game starting at 6 p.m. and the boys’ game following right after.

This story was originally published November 26, 2017 at 7:28 PM with the headline "Nation Ford’s boys and girls squads earn a pair of wins at Border Battle."