Published: February 20, 2008 11:35 pm      

Falcons facing big weekend road trip

There is a little more buzz surrounding the Mountain State Academy road trip this weekend.

The team will travel to Lenoir, N.C., to face The Patterson School Friday before traveling to Blacksburg, Va., to play the Virginia Tech junior varsity squad in the preliminary game prior to the Hokies’ ACC game with Georgia Tech.

On Friday, Mountain State Academy (33-3) will have a chance to avenge one of its three losses on the season.

The Patterson School beat the Falcons 80-68 Dec. 14 at the Birdcage.

In that game, MSA fell behind by as many as 16 in the second half before battling back to within three, 62-59.

“We had our chances; we just didn’t make plays when we needed to down the stretch,” coach Rob Fulford said of the game. “We got an offensive rebound at one point down three, but for some reason we threw the ball away. We missed several open looks.

“Plus, this is the only game we have left where we’ll have a chance to get some revenge for one of our losses. There is a little more ‘oomph!’ in this one.”

In the first game, point guard Chris Kupetz led the Bulldogs with 20 points and Patterson featured a front line of three players 6-foot-8 or better. Michael Holloway had 13 in the first meeting, Mathiang Muo 11 and Victor Ojeleye added 10.

MSU’s Kofi Mensa led all scorers with 27 points.

The Falcons will be a little stronger heading into this matchup. Point guard D.J. Georgievski is back healthy and Josh Birchfield didn’t play in that game.

On Saturday, the Falcons will have a chance to play in front of an ACC crowd vs. the Virginia Tech JV team.

The Falcons will be at home Monday against Oak Hill Academy Red at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday will be Senior Night for the team’s six senior players: Georgievski, Filip Melinovic, Lazar Milinkovic, Milos Jerotijevic, Birchfield and Victor Ogunniyi.

Fulford also said Mountain State Academy will play in an independent school national tournament in the elite division in March. The team was ranked No. 13 nationally in the latest NACA rankings for independent and Christian schools.