Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Faith Lutheran notches playoff win over Sierra Vista High School

2016 Las Vegas Sun HS Basketball Media Day

Christopher DeVargas

Faith Lutheran High School Boys Basketball, from left, Elijah Kothe, Jaylen Fox and Nic Maccioni participate in the Las Vegas Sun Media day at The South Point, Wed Nov. 16, 2016.

When the Faith Lutheran basketball team headed into the locker room during halftime of its first-round playoff game with Sierra Vista Tuesday night, the Crusaders had to feel good about themselves.

They were clinging to a 34-33 lead without leading scorer Nic Maccioni making a single shot from the field. Maccioni scored his first basket with 4:38 left in the third quarter and the floodgates opened.

The senior forward finished the game with a team-high 23 points to lead Faith Lutheran to a 79-70 playoff win over Sierra Vista in its first season in the 4A Division.

“They were playing me close and I had to adjust,” Maccioni said. “I needed to take it to the hoop instead of just shooting.”

During Maccioni’s first-half slump, guards Jaylen Fox and Brevin Walter kept the Crusaders in it with big shots from behind the 3-point arc.

Fox finished with 19 points and Walker scored 22, including three 3-pointers.

“Jalen really gave us a spark. He hit a couple shots to start the second half that helped us a lot,” Faith Lutheran coach Bret Walter said. “Brevin hit a couple big shots for us as well. It’s probably his best offensive game of the season, which really gave us a lift."

Perhaps more important, Faith Lutheran was able to frustrate Sierra Vista star Maka Ellis on the other end of the court.

Ellis, who is the second leading scorer in the city with 25 points per game, was held to only eight points in the first three quarters.

“We are fortunate enough that we have a few guys that we can run at him,” Walter said. “We wanted to keep him off balance and I thought we did a good job.”

But in the fourth quarter, Ellis caught fire, scoring 17 points in the final eight minutes in a last-minute comeback attempt that fell short. Ellis drained multiple 3-pointers from well beyond the arc, but Maccioni always had an answer on the other end.

“It’s fun competing and going back and forth,” Maccioni said. “He’s obviously a great shooter so it’s a hard battle. He had to work for every jumpshot he took. In the end he got loose and hit a couple over the top but there’s nothing you can do about that.”

Faith Lutheran’s Elijah Kothe dominated the boards, grabbing 16 rebounds to go along with his eight points.

“We are going to enjoy this win,” Walter said. “It’s our first game up here (in the 4A Division) and we got a home playoff game and won it. That’s what we wanted.”

The Crusaders will take on five-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman in the Sunset Region semifinals on Thursday at Shadow Ridge. The Gaels easily handled Palo Verde 96-72 in their first-round matchup.

“We are ready to just go at them,” Maccioni said. “We all know each other and we think we can win. We will work hard at practice tomorrow and then go in and battle.”

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