Lowndes County Ministry Makes The Right Call

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Jan. 12, 2016 - PRLog -- Fort Deposit, AL – Darrell Hykes and Lamont Bracy have more in common than basketball, they both have a passionate desire to help the youth in their local communities.
Hykes is the director/head coach of Team America Basketball which is a youth sports program based in the Atlanta (GA) metropolitan area. The organization's overall goal is to travel to and play basketball in all 50 U.S. capital cities.
Bracy is responsible for Program Media and Public Affairs for AAC (athletics…academics…character) which is powered by The Temple Gate Church Inc., under the leadership of it's Director (Bishop) Kenneth E. Scott. David Brown is the program’s administrator.
Over the past 2 ½ years, Hykes and Bracy have made it a point to foster their commonality, by agreeing to participate in basketball tournaments hosted by their organizations.
Hykes likes to utilize his players' school breaks for travel time. After numerous emails, text messages, and phone calls, AAC agreed to host a one day, double elimination tournament on Saturday, January 2, 2016.
The opening round game would see Coach Hykes’ team lose by 2 points as sophomore Tony Jones Jr. (Langston Hughes HS – Atlanta) missed a potentially game winning 3 pointer. TAB’s Director believes in playing to win yet allows his 10th grade co-captains, Jones Jr., and Demonte Demore (Hapeville Charter Career Academy - Atlanta) to make the final decision.
Team America got out to a slow start in their 2nd game (loser’s bracket) but took control midway through the 3rd quarter. Malick Njie (Westlake HS – Atlanta), another sophomore, had a big game tallying 34 points.
Game 3 saw a somewhat weary yet focused team from Atlanta. With only 6 players, Hykes was concerned about the 2 ½ hour ride and having to play 96 minutes of basketball to get to the championship. Those concerns were alleviated as Coach Hykes watched his squad coast to a double digit win.
As the buzzer sounded, Team America realized they were 32 minutes away from potentially winning their first AAC championship.
The wearied warriors from the "A" showed signs of fatigue in the 1st quarter yet managed to keep the game close.  Midway through the quarter, Administrator Brown, informed Hykes of the opposing team playing with ineligible players. Hykes acknowledged him yet opted to continue the game. Brown decided to contact Bishop Scott and notify him of the violation(s).
The 2nd quarter would see Team America fall behind by 6 points eventually finding themselves down by 12 points at the half. Fatigue had set in and it looked like Coach Hykes was headed towards another 2nd place finish.
Remember the ineligible players? Well right before the start of the 3rd quarter, Administrator Brown had a conversation with the opposing team's coach. As Brown ended that discussion and began walking towards the Team America bench, Darrell knew that his time had come.
The officials called the game and declared Team America Basketball the 2016 AAC Basketball Tournament winners (15-18 Age Division)!
Wow...