FMS tops Fork Union, finishes Military Challenge 2-0

Fishburne broke open a close game with a 12-2 run to end the first half and held off a pesky Fork Union squad 85-74 in the final game of the Virginia Military Postgrad Basketball Challenge Saturday night.

Earlier on Saturday, St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy knocked off Massanutten Military Academy by a 76-67 final.

St. John’s and Massanutten both finished 1-1 in the Challenge. Fork Union, which fell 84-79 to MMA on Friday night, finished 0-2, and the homestanding FMS team went 2-0 with the win on Saturday and a 97-86 win over St. John’s on Friday.

“This is great momentum for our basketball team,” said Huckaby, whose team is now 4-0 on its five-game homestand, with national power Hargrave coming into town Thursday night.

The Caissons (17-5) created the momentum with a strong defensive effort against FUMA in a game that looked at the outset like it might be a track meet. Fishburne raced out to a 21-13 lead in the game’s first 10 minutes before the defenses took over. A long three by Fork Union guard Xavier Holland cut the Fishburne lead to five at 33-28 with 2:57 to go in the first half.

A Devin Call three at the buzzer capped the 12-2 run that left it at 45-30 FMS at the break.

The final margin of 11 was as close as Fork Union would get the rest of the night. FMS led by as many as 20 at 63-43 on a Chris Bryant three-point play, and the Caissons maintained a working lead of 12 to 15 points most of the rest of the way.

Khalil Alford led a balanced Fishburne attack with 18 points. Karl Ziegler had 13, Spencer Parker 12 and Jackson Trapp 10 for the Caissons.

Kion Brown led Fork Union with 16 points.

Ziegler and Brown were named team MVPs along with Massanutten’s Bryan Harris and St. John’s Aaron Ross.