By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SAVANNAH – Effingham County boys basketball coach Tremaine Aaron just wants his players to enjoy the upcoming holiday.
And put a 44-25 loss to Savannah Christian on Dec. 21 completely out of their minds.
The holidays are normally a happy time, but the Rebels’ second half against the Raiders was like a lump of coal in the Christmas stocking. They went 12 minutes and 24 seconds without scoring and 14 minutes and 33 seconds without a field goal as a four-point, third-quarter lead was buried by a 24-point Raider avalanche.
“We had four games in five days, I’m sure they were out of it (mentally),” Aaron said. “As far as basketball, I want them to do some self-evaluation (during the time off). Let’s regroup. Let’s come back better.”
It wasn’t a great week, but the Rebels managed to split their four games during the five-day stretch. ECHS lost to Brunswick 79-63 on Tuesday (Dec. 17), then rolled over Trinity Christian of Deltona, Fla., 70-32 behind Elyjah Doty’s 22 points on Thursday (Dec. 19).
On Friday, the Rebels began play in Savannah Christian’s Holiday Classic by rallying past Southeast Bulloch 51-49. Doty had 14 points and the team made 10 3-pointers.
ECHS returned to Savannah the next day and played one of its worst games in years while falling to Savannah Christian.
In a near empty SCPS gym, after a big crowd filed out after Benedictine’s win over St. Andrew’s, ECHS and Savannah Christian hooked up in a sneaker-squeaking, halfcourt, grind-it-out game. It was tied at 15 at halftime. The Rebels forged ahead 21-17 after Isaiah Brown’s free throw with 5:24 left in the third quarter.
But ECHS hit a scoreless stretch of epic proportions. Elyjah Doty’s two free throws and layup in the final minute prevented the Rebels from being shut out in the fourth quarter.
“We tried to do some things to change the tempo,” Aaron said. “We pressed and forced some steals. We got out on the break, but it’s hard if you don’t convert. It became a cat-and-mouse game and they played it better.”
The two-day Savannah Christian Holiday Classic was seemingly a Darling family reunion. Jake Darling is the athletic director at Effingham County. Jake’s brother Zach Darling is the head basketball coach at Savannah Christian. And River Ridge, a participant in the tournament, was coached by another brother, Aaron Darling.
Tremaine Aaron will have a similar chance to see family and friends when the Rebels travel to Marietta for games with Pope and Walton on Jan. 3-4.
Aaron, who grew up in Marietta and played on Wheeler High’s state championship teams, played with Walton coach Bo Abney at Berry College and against Pope coach Patrick Abney, who played collegiately at Kennesaw State.
Pope and Walton have records of 10-3 and 10-1 respectively.
“It is homecoming, but it’s also business,” Aaron said. “Hopefully, it will give us some lessons going into subregion play.”
ECHS begins subregion play Jan. 7 at Lakeside.
