As a social studies teacher, the head coach of the Foothills Falcons senior boys basketball team knows full well those who don’t learn from history, are prone to repeat it.

That’s why he told his squad to put the pedal to the metal to start the second half of their tilt against their cross-town rivals Feb. 13 at Holy Trinity Academy (HTA).

“We remembered our last game against them when we were up by 20 at half-time and HTA came out on fire and closed it to less then 10 points,” Falcons head coach Amron Gwilliam said.

“I told the guys that they are going to come after us, but we have to be aggressive and we have to throw the first punch.

“The boys responded.”

The Falcons outgunned the HTA Knights to win 100-61 after building up a 48-30 lead at the half. The victory gave the Falcons a perfect 6-0 record and first-place in the Foothills Athletic Council (FAC) Tier I regular season. The Knights finished second at 3-3.

The Falcons’ threw a one-two combination at the Knights in the second half in the form of Hunter Karl and point guard Jamie Derochie. Karl pumped in a jump shot and then a three-pointer to start the half. Derochie would follow with a driving layup and a pair of bombs from beyond the three-point arch. Derochie, who finished with 18 points, said the Falcons had plenty of energy when they hit the floor in the second half.

“It came down to communication,” Derochie said. “The guys on our bench got up and yelled, it really got us going…. It’s all about teamwork.”

Derochie not only pumped in threes for the Falcons, he dished off passes with the efficiency of a waitress serving breakfast at truck stop diner — move quickly and get the job done.

Foothills spread the wealth in regards to scoring. Karl and Noah Quinn also finished with 18 points while Taner Parrington topped the Falcons with 28 points.

Knights head coach Sam Aiello is also tired of history repeating itself. George W. Bush was U.S. president and Harper had a minority government the last time the Knights beat the Foothills back in 2007.

“The Falcons seem to have an ability to score at will when they need to — we got them down to four in the first half and then they would just take off,” Aiello said. “Foothills has had a great cycle of athletes and Amron is a great coach. They just have so many weapons.”

The Knights’ top scorers were Kyler Helinsky and point guard Dylan Wheeler with 18 points each. Wheeler, a rookie high school point guard, said he felt the Knights played better than in their previous outing against the Falcons before Christmas.

“We came out with nothing to lose because it wouldn’t change anything in the standings,” Wheeler said. “We stuck with them at the beginning, but I think we got tired.

“They (Foothills) have so many guys who can push the ball up the floor and we didn’t get back on defence quick enough.”

Parrington, said he was happy with the win, but he is putting it behind him. He has to focus on the next time they play the Knights — which could be the FAC final.

“It was definitely a harder game than the last time we played them because they have learned our strengths and our weaknesses,” said Parrington, who has committed to the University of Saskatchewan. “I definitely think we will be seeing them again in the playoffs.”

The FAC playoffs will begin Feb. 27, however, both the Falcons and the Knights will have byes to the semifinals on March 1, when they will be hosting a team to be determined later.

The FAC final is scheduled for March 2 at Foothills Composite High School.

bcampbell@okotoks.greatwest.ca

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