Falcons get first wins of the hoops season

All the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place for the Nation Ford Falcons boys’ basketball team, and they should get one big piece back next week.

Senior Hank Tuipulotu should return next week after spending last week at Myrtle Beach for the North-South All-Star football game. His younger brother, Ben Tuipulotu, returned from playing football last week and contributed in the Falcons’ 75-64 win over Fairfield Central.

Ben Tuipulotu had 16 points and 10 rebounds and senior Cameron Holmes led the Falcons with 27 points in the win.

“To come in and get a double-double with two days practice is pretty good,” said Nation Ford head coach Michael Tew, regarding Tuipulotu. “And I knew Cameron was going to have a bust out game eventually.”

Nation Ford trailed by a bucket at the half, but in the second half shot more than 50 percent from the field and Holmes hit five of his six 3-pointers to lead Nation Ford.

The Falcons tied the game at 39 about a minute into the third quarter and then went on a 12-2 run midway through the quarter to go up 47-41 and start pulling away from Fairfield Central. In the fourth quarter, Nation Ford continued its hot shooting, hitting nine of 13 as Tuipulotu added seven of his points and Holmes poured in 11.

Girls surge in second half

The Falcons’ girls’ squad also secured its first win of the season beating the Lady Griffins 55-46. Nation Ford had three players in double figures and was led by freshman Ellona Moulds, who scored 16 points. Haley Fulton added 11 and Sami Tuipulotu added 10.

“We knew we had a size advantage on them,” said Nation Ford assistant coach Pam Adams, filling in for head coach Tamara Washington, who was ill. “One of our goals was to get more shots in the paint. The chemistry is coming together.”

Nation Ford’s girls trailed at the half 27-20, but opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run to take the lead. Fairfield Central came right back to go on a 7-0 run as well.

Nation Ford outscored Fairfield Central 12-4 the rest of the third quarter as Tuipulotu had eight of her 10 in the third. The Falcons also hit 10 of 16 shots from the field in the quarter and then shot even better in the fourth quarter hitting 70 percent of their shots from the field, most of them coming from inside the paint.

Moulds added 12 of her 16 points in the second half to boost Nation Ford’s effort.

Both the boys’ and girls’ teams improved to 1-4 on the season. Nation Ford will host Lancaster this week and will travel to Clover to open Region III play Friday night.

This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Falcons get first wins of the hoops season."