Pandemonium at The Pete
- Updated: January 15, 2022
Faith’s Richerzhagen, Arevalo pick up slack for missing teammate; game marred by scrum in fourth, both teams mull appealing ejections
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE — The 8-9 game in the Calhoun County Tournament should be the most intense game of the tournament outside the championship game with supposedly the two most evenly matched teams in the field. When one team in the matchup is missing one of its top players, it’s cause for worry.
Faith Christian, the No. 9 seed that with a little more debate at the meeting could have been higher, was missing top scorer and rebounder Thomas Curlee with lower back problems. The Lions needed someone to step up.
Ethan Richerzhagen and Yoshua Arevalo answered the call.
Richerzhagen was on fire. He scored 37 points in about 26 minutes and Arevalo had a career-high 26 as the Lions pulled off a 76-52 win over Weaver that got heated at the end.
The way the game was going for the Lions, if Richerzhagen didn’t score you were surprised.
He had 14 of the Lions’ 17 points in the first quarter, 26 of their 33 in the first half and 37 of their first 59. He was 14-of-32 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and hit 13 of 14 free throws. In just the first half alone he was 8-for-12 from the field (4-of-5 from 3) and 8-of-8 from the line.
“We shouldn’t let one man dictate that,” Weaver coach Beau Winn said. “He had our number tonight.”
“We hoped he would be hot and when he came out he was fire hot, so that was good for us,” Faith coach Cory Hughes said.
“Before the game coach pulled me aside and said you’ve got to step up extra; I was just doing it for Thomas,” Richerzhagen said. “Thomas was averaging a double-double for us, so I knew I had to step it up on the boards, step it up on the perimeter. It got the job done.”
Unfortunately, he wasn’t around to finish it off.
He was involved in a scrum under the Faith goal with 5:20 left in the game and the Lions leading by 17.
The incident resulted in the ejections of four players – Richerzhagen, teammate Colton Pahman and Weaver’s Tristan Brown and Armane Burton. All the participants were already on the floor, so no players left the bench to get involved.
It started when Pahman was hard-fouled into the goal support from behind by Brown with Burton trailing and then Kohl Perry hammering Arevalo on the putback. Arevalo came up to challenge. Pahman was shoved into them by Burton, then he turned to challenge Burton and got shoved in the chest.
Arevalo challenged Burton then was run over by a charging Jeffrey Miles and then dragged away by him. In the meantime, Richerzhagen charged in and shoved Miles from behind, then rejoined the fray and got nose-to-nose with Burton before being separated.
“All I see is four guys on (Pahman) and I’m not going to let my family get hurt,” Richerzhagen said. “I wasn’t trying to start anything, I was just breaking it up and I just pushed too hard.”
Pahman and Brown were ejected with technical fouls, Richerzhagen and Burton for flagrant fouls. Initially, Richerzhagen and Hughes, a former basketball referee, thought the ejections were going to keep the players out of Tuesday’s quarterfinals game against top-seeded Jacksonville, but Hughes got a clarification that both his players would be able to play, but are still subject to AHSAA fines.
Both teams said they were considering appealing the ejections after reviewing video of the melee.
After Richerzhagen was sent off, Arevalo picked up his slack and added to his totals while preventing the Bearcats from getting any closer.
“I just had to stepped up,” Arevalo said. “Coach has been calling for me to lead all year so that’s what I did. It’s the second part of the season. Coach said we were hunting in the first half, but now we’re the hunted, so I have to step up points-wise and that’s what I did. I have to step up in every stat.”
Even though Faith had a big lead coming down the stretch, a rally in this series isn’t unusual. Two years in the county tournament Weaver wiped out aa 17-point deficit in the second half behind Brown and Burton to beat the Lions. It’s the game Hughes says the players still talk about to this day.
Now, they have another one for a completely different reason.
Faith Christian 76, Weaver 52
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Yoshua Arevalo 10 5-8 26, Jacque Prater 2 3-4 9, Ethan Richerzhagen 10 13-14 37, Brody Dodson 0 0-0 0, Demonde Bell 1 0-0 2, Colton Pahman 0 0-0 0, Damian Arevalo 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 21-26 76.
WEAVER – Tristan Brown 3 2-4 9, Jeffrey Miles 3 0-0 6, Kohl Perry 7 0-0 16, Dawson Brooks 2 2-2 7, Buck McGregor 1 0-0 3, Zach Garner 1 0-2 2, Armane Burton 4 1-1 9. Totals 21 5-9 52.
Faith 17 16 20 23 – 76
Weaver 12 12 10 18 – 52
3-point goals: Faith 7 (Arevalo, Prater 2, Richerzhagen 4); Weaver 5 (Brown, Perry 2, Brooks, McGregor). Technical fouls: Weaver coach Winn, Brown, Burton, Richerzhagen, Pahman. Ejections: Brown, Burton, Richerzhagen, Pahman. Total fouls: Faith 11, Weaver 19. Officials: McKinney, Burns, Zauchin.
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