The story of the Grace Christian School boys basketball 2019-20 season was a tale of two seasons — the first part not so good, the second part outstanding. A young and inexperienced team under first-year coach Jason Morgan started slowly, losing 11 of the Eagles' first 15 games, then did a 180, winning 16 of 19 to finish 20-14. “From what I understand, the basketball class of 2019 was quite a class,” Morgan said. “I knew coming in that we had a lot to replace in several areas. But the JV team from 2018-2019 had a great freshman class, had a winning record, and showed some real promise. So I knew it could take some time, but we would get there.” His goal was a .500 season. “I figured we would have a starting lineup of mostly sophomores, and I hoped that if they had some initial success and we could put together something to build on, the future would be very bright. But the most important thing I wanted to get across my first season with them was the concept of giving your best.” As Morgan expected, the going was rough at the beginning. The Eagles started 0-4. Offense was the problem, with 14 and 10 points in the first two games. “But the pace was what I wanted. And the young guys were learning passes they could make, passes they couldn't make, cuts that led to scores, cuts that led to nothing — that kind of stuff. How to set up a man — basic basketball.” Injuries were a problem early in the season. The Hogue brothers both suffered broken wrist bones, Asher in practice and Jacob during a game. “We had a few other bang-ups as well. Two other regular starters had significant injuries by early December. I remember one night we went up to Oxford and played a game with four starters out. It was so frustrating knowing what we could be versus what we were. That was a difficult night. We lost 50-33 to a team we were better than when at full strength,” Morgan said. It started to come together by mid-December. “Offense started to make sense. Team defense was improving a little too. All the experience 8th and 9th graders had gotten the first third of the year was great.” The Hogues returned to the lineup and everything began to click. “The rest of the year can be summed up by two words: drive and improvement. I have coached for 19 years, and very few teams I have been around had the focus, drive, initiative, and 'want to' down the stretch that these kids this year did. They came to practice every day and paid attention. They came to practice every day and worked.” The Eagles lost only one game after Jan. 7. “One game in a month. Not bad,” Morgan said. The season concluded on a high note. The Eagles defeated Delta Streets Academy 53-34, then won the Grace Christian School Invitational Tournament. The Delta Streets game illustrates how much the team improved during the season. When the teams met in November, Delta Streets won 75-43. Grace Christian won three games at the tournament, including 50-41 over Victory Christian in the title game. Key players were seniors Micah Ballard and Jacob Hogue, junior Wes Agnew, sophomores Bonner Brownlee, Asher Hogue and Jacob Phillips, freshman Grayson Skelton and Waylon Pender, an eighth grader. Morgan, who also serves as Grace Christian headmaster, is optimistic about the future. “We are young and hungry,” he said..
