4A AREA 4 BOYS FINAL: Catholic finds more magic to earn another comeback win
Montgomery Catholic defeated Booker T. Washington-Tuskegee in the boys Class 4A, Area 4 tournament final on Friday. (Graham Dunn)
By GRAHAM DUNN
It wasn’t exactly a moment of deja vu.
Then again, it was almost a repeat performance for Montgomery Catholic.
The Knights needed some late heroics to earn the Class 4A, Area 4 tournament title on Friday, defeating upset minded Booker T. Washington, 54-51 at the Catholic gym.
The win came on the heels of another last-second victory in the tournament semifinals against Bullock County two days prior.
“Somebody on the team is living right,” Catholic coach Mike Curry said. “This team has some fight in them. We ain’t the prettiest team to watch. We ain’t gonna run out a 6(foot)-7 or 6-8 player. But they compete.”
Similar to Wednesday’s win, the Knights trailed for most of the game against the Eagles but a late surge proved to be the difference.
And like Wednesday, it was LJ Green with the big play along with some help from forward Joshua Palmer, who stuck back Green’s missed free throw with a minute left to give the Knights a lead they would not relinquish.
“We said, we will get it right,” Green said. “We find a way.”
For three and a half quarters, the Eagles were in prime position to do what Bullock County failed to do - hold on to a lead. Their lead reached 10 points in the first half and they led by as many as.seven points in the second.
But, to the chagrin of coach Steve Rogers, the game turned on a couple of steals and poor shooting late in the game.
Was there something the Eagles could have done different?
“Not on my end,” Rogers said. “We were set up to win but it’s a matter of making plays.
“I felt pretty good. They wanted it more than we wanted it. We have to learn how to play pressure basketball. All the credit to Catholic.”
The game almost went off the rails for Catholic with just over two minutes remaining. Trailing by five, Palmer made two free throws to make it a one-possession game. On BTW’s inbounds pass, Green wrestled with two BTW players for a loose ball near the Catholic bench. He was able to gain possession and pass to Palmer underneath the basket for what would have been an easy layup.
But as he passed the ball, Curry called a timeout, wiping out the bucket.
"I didn’t see Josh under the goal but at that point, I felt like the ball was more important than him getting tied up, and that was our last timeout,” he said.
During the timeout, Green said his teammate, Palmer, took over the huddle.
“He lashed out at us,” Green said. “He let us have it.”
Asked what Palmer said exactly, Curry said, “I can’t repeat it.”
“He lit into them. I walked off and they went back out there and started playing. It worked.”
Catholic still had a couple of hiccups in the final minute. Once again, the Knights had a good chance to ice the game but missed a couple of chip shots under the goal. Both Green and Palmer made 1-of-2 free throws that proved to be the final points of the night but in between the free throws, BTW had a couple of good looks that could have tied the game.
“I really couldn’t tell you,” Curry said. “We had open looks in the first half and I told the guys at halftime, it’s a make or miss game. Tonight we made a couple of 3s… but we still only made five of them. It’s about timing. We started getting down hill. LJ started getting down hill. That put pressure on them and we did what was needed.”
Green finished with 21 points while Jayden Phifer added 17 points with 15 coming on five 3-pointers. Palmer had 10 points.
Quez Daniels scored 12 points and Quaybo Miles had 10 points to lead BTW.
Green was named tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tourney team by Phifer, Palmer, BTW’s Miles and EJ Hall, Matthias Gourdine of LAMP and Bullock County’s Marlin Bouyer.
Catholic (15-6) will be home on Tuesday for the South Sub-Regional game against Andalusia. BTW (13-11) will travel to Geneva. Both games are set for a 7p.m. tip-off.