Athens Holds On to Beat Ferndale in 81-78 Thriller

The varsity boys basketball head coach David Scott said it was like a freight train. 

Ferndale almost shocked the Red Hawks Wednesday night by storming back in the fourth quarter from a 26-point deficit, nearly beating Athens in a last-minute thriller. Late free throws from Caleb McIntosh and Marcarius Coakley helped Athens edge out an 81-78 win at home.

“We let them score 35 in the fourth quarter just to keep it interesting,” Scott joked after the game. “We like to keep it fun here at Athens, I guess.”

Scott could only shake his head after his team pulled out a second straight last-minute thriller. On Friday, the Red Hawks beat cross-town rival Troy 62-61 with a late jumper from McIntosh in the final seconds.

The difference on Wednesday was that Athens looked like it had the game against Ferndale (1-3) wrapped up by the end of the third quarter.

At halftime, the Red Hawks were holding on to a 35-30 lead. Coakley and McIntosh came out of the break with a hot hand and helped extend that lead to 17 points by the end of the third.

Coakley scored eight of his 25 points in the first three minutes of the quarter and McIntosh did the rest. He finished the third with 10 points and helped Athens take complete control of the game.

By the fourth quarter, the Red Hawks had upped their lead to 70-44 with only six minutes to go. Scott had his starters on the bench and felt confident that the second string would be able to run out the clock. 

Ferndale had other plans. The Eagles switched to a full-court press and ramped up their intensity on defense. They forced four straight turnovers and went 12-0 in the blink of an eye.

“I thought in the fourth quarter, after I got on their butts a little bit, they came to play defensively,” Ferndale head coach Tom Staton said. “I told them this is not the way you want to go out – (losing like this) will give you nightmares.”

Nate Stepney and Jordan Ellis hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers and momentum started swinging their way.

“We had two freshman out there on the floor and this was kind of a learning experience for us,” Scott said. “We left them out there a little bit because they have to learn how to play in these situations. I was hoping it wouldn’t get as close as it did.”

Scott rushed his starters back out on the floor, but Ferndale continued to cut into the Athens’ lead.

Aaron Rice came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer to make it 73-65 with two minutes to go. Rice’s basket put the Eagles within 10 points for the first time since the beginning of the third. 

The Eagles hit a total of three 3-point shots in the final two minutes to make it a one-possession game.

Aaron Fox missed a pair of free throws with five seconds on the clock with his team ahead 81-78. Ellis grabbed the rebound on the second miss and pushed the ball up the court to Stepney. The senior missed a 3-pointer at the top of the key that would have sent the game into overtime. 

“They hit a lot of threes in that fourth quarter, and a lot of those were guarded,” Scott said. “And our intensity dropped a little bit, which enabled them to come back." 

Stepney led all scorers with a career-high 29 points, and Ellis finished the game with 14 points.  

Athens will try to keep its unbeaten streak going against Oxford next week on Tuesday and then a visit to Clarkston on Thursday. Ferndale only has one more game before winter break. It plays at Ecorse on Friday.