The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER teaming up with each other in a few Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Tournament games this summer, Deyton Albury and Garreth Edgecombe played against each other for the first time in their pre-college prep experience.

Albury, a graduate of Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, made his debut for Believe Prep Academy against Edgecombe, a graduate of Galilee Academy, now with the Trinity Prep Academy in the prep college exhibition basketball tournament at the Rock Hill Center in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

The two 18-year-olds hooked up on Sunday with Albury and Believe pulling off an impressive 71-56 victory after falling behind 12-0 to Edgecombe and Trinity at the early stage of the game in the first quarter.

“We started off slow in that game,” said Albury, who had 12 points in the victory. “We fought back and got into the game. They switched up their defense to confuse us a lot, but we were able to turn things around and easily won the game.”

As for the match-up between the two former team-mates at Temple Christian Academy, Albury said they shook hands before the game and during the game, they both blocked a shot by each other.

“It was still competitive,” Albury said.

Edgecombe, who finished with ten points in the loss, said it was a good experience against his homeboy.

“It was a good, although we lost the game,” Edgecombe said. “We had a chance, but I think fatigue got to us down the stretch when they came back to take control. I know coach is going to let us work on those mistakes in practice tomorrow (today).”

In making his debut with his new team, Edgecombe said he was pleased and he’s confident that he have the ability to play at this level and to be able to make a valuable contribution to the success of Trinity as the season progresses.

“We have a pretty good team, so it’s just a matter of adjusting to everybody,” he said. “I think once we do that, we will be okay. I like the team we have. We are going to much better down the road.”

Edgecombe and Trinity finished with a 1-2 record in their pre-season exhibition games this weekend. Albury and Believe still had one more game to play late Sunday, but they went in undefeated at 2-0.

In scoring 14 points in their first game against Meridian Prep, Albury helped Believe as they won by 40 points.

“I honestly didn’t know that we would have come out that strong,” Albury stated. “We only practiced for four days, so I’m thinking we would struggle to gel together, but it was the complete opposite.

“We came out strong and it seemed like we were playing together for months. We ended up blowing out our opponents. It was a good all-around game. We have a good all-around team.”

Albury said like they did over the summer when they played in the AAU Tournaments with coach Jamal Smith, they had to conform to the protocols established for the coronavirus pandemic and they are abiding by the rules.