Posted on December 13, 2018.
By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The Tipton-Rosemark Academy Rebels finally stepped foot onto the court in the place they hope they will be playing in come late February. Friday night’s Division II-A West Region showdown with the Fayette Academy Vikings was the first home game for the Rebels in the 2018-19 season. Prior to the game, TRA has taken on a premiere schedule competing in events like the 2018 MLK Tournament in Memphis. “The seaosn has been going good,” TRA Head Coach Cedric Anderson said. “What the kids have been learning is that people know who we are now. They’re prepared for us, so we have to be ready to meet the challenge. It’s one thing to chase and it’s a whole other thing to be chased. “It was intentional for us to schedule this way,” he added. “We want to be battled tested come district and tournament time. This was our first home game. All our other games have been on the road. I want to put in the guys head to be tough mentally.” That early mental toughness was proven with a 61-48 victory over the Vikings. Led by Ryan Parks, Fayette Academy kept the first quarter close only trailing 11-9 heading into the second period. TRA was paced by Andrew and Alex Anderson in the first quarter with the brothers combining for 9 points. The Rebels began to spread the wealth in the second period with Coach Anderson employing waves of pressure defense. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t get into foul trouble early,” he noted. “Then we wanted to slowly turn up the pressure to get to the pace we wanted to play. We can play a slow pace but we would rather run a faster pace. It will get the other teams out of running their offense.” While Parks was still able to find the bucket from time to time, the rest of the Vikings appeared shipwrecked when TRA used pressure from players like the Andersons, Patrick Green and Tysen Banks. A Banks steal and layup led to an 18-10 lead early in the second quarter. Parks stopped the TRA 7-1 run with a Euro-step move leading to a three-point play. TRA went on to outscore Fayette Academy 20-14 the rest of the first half to lead 38-27. Both squads traded baskets throughout the third quarter with TRA holding a 50-42 advantage. Early in the fourth quarter, the Rebels received a much-needed triple from Banks to make the tally 53-42. Down the stretch TRA held off the Vikings with foul shots and turnovers forced by Andrew and Banks. Coach Anderson was glad all the tough lessons prior to the Fayette Academy contest paid off down the stretch.
“We’re trying to get everybody to learn what their individual responsibilities are,” Anderson concluded. “Everybody knows what that other guy specializes in as well. Tysen being back is so vital to us as a team. He really controls everything on defense. We missed him in the playoff times last year. He’s about 90 percent now. Hopefully by January he’s 100 percent.”
