Dig yourself a hole and it can be awfully hard trying to get out — sometimes you just fall right back in.

A Holy Trinity Academy Knight Deiter Posein tries to shake off a Foothills Falcon defender Branden Heslip during a senior boys basketball game on Wednesday at Holy Trinity Academy. The Falcons won the game 75-46. photo by Bruce Campbell

The Holy Trinity Academy Knights dug themselves a deep hole against their crosstown rivals, the Foothills Falcons on in Foothills Athletic Council action on Wednesday evening. After a making a charge, the Knights wound up on the losing end of a 75-46 score of the senior boys basketball game at Holy Trinity Academy.

Foothills coach Amron Gwilliam said the Knights showed the Falcons they can never get complacent.

“We had a big lead at halftime (35-21) and our guys came in the dressing room and thought HTA was going to roll over,” Gwilliam said. “Give tons of credit to HTA. They battled back and gave us a scare.”

The Knights cut the margin to 43-38 with less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter when HTA’s gritty Wayne MacLellan took a dish from James LaGrange and battled his way in for a lay-up.

However, then the Falcons then took off.

Branden Heslip countered with a lay-up, the scorching hot Ryan Derochie hit a couple of threes and some loose lips cost the Knights as they found themselves down 53-38 when the third quarter ended.

An HTA Knight was slapped with a technical foul just before the end of the quarter when he said something the referee deemed inappropriate.

The Falcons’ Lee Campbell then stepped to the line and drained a pair of free throws.

Holy Trinity Academy is a learning institution and the young man learned from his mistake.

“At the end of the game, he said he wanted to talk to the team in the locker room,” Knights coach Sam Aiello said. “He stood up and said: ‘It is my fault. I’m sorry for what I did.’ That showed me a lot character.

“It (the technical foul) was a big play, but people make mistakes. These are just kids, they have to learn from these things.”

Aiello admitted the Knights had a tough time scoring in the opening quarter, but he knew they could battle back.

“They played solid defence and we had a tough time scoring in the first quarter for sure,” Aiello said. “We had to weather the storm the first couple of minutes and I knew we would settle down and make it respectable. We have positive kids on this team who don’t get down on themselves.”

The Knights are such a young team that a razor is just a rumour in the dressing room so not surprisingly some mental lapses due to inexperience cost them.

“We got within five points, got excited and had a two-minute lapse — and a team like Foothills will make you pay every time,” Aiello said.

However, Aiello was impressed with the Knights’ defence, pointing out that holding a quality team like Foothills to 75 points “isn’t too shabby.”

Aiello also said LeGrange had his best game of the year.

“He had great hustle, great intensity, he was by far our best player,” he said.

Aiello was amazed at the accuracy of the Falcons’ three-point bombers. Kai Rasporich popped in a couple of threes early in the game and then when he cooled down, Grade 11 students Derochie and Scott Sparrow took over.

“I’d like to know where Foothills gets all those shooters?” Aiello said with a laugh. “If you don’t have a hand in their faces, they will just kill you.”

Six-foot-seven Falcon post Lee Campbell led Foothills in scoring with 16 points. Derochie and Rasporich both finished with 13.

But Campbell wasn’t worrying about offensive stats.

“Our success is all defence,” the six-foot-seven Campbell said. “Our defence fell apart (in the third quarter) because we weren’t focused. Fortunately, we got it back.”

The Foothills Falcons have a 6-0 record in the FAC. There next game is tonight (Feb. 10) when they host the Strathmore Spartans.

The Knights dropped to 3-4 in the FAC. They have a rematch against the Highwood Mustangs tonight at HTA.

The Mustangs beat the Knights 66-63 when Highwood’s Andrew Olmsted hit a buzzer beater from centre court.

In other action the Oilfields Drillers are at fellow 2A opponent the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans tonight at 5:30 p.m.

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