AISA AA BOYS QUARTERS: Macon East, Edgewood, Autauga all advance
By TIM GAYLE
This time, they brought their defense.
The Macon East Academy Knights, continuing their late-season surge, advanced to the semifinals of the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA state tournament with a stifling defensive effort that held Sparta Academy in check on Saturday afternoon at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
The Knights’ 62-40 win lifted them into the final four against Autauga Academy next Thursday at 11:30 a.m., with the winner advancing to the championship game on Feb 16.
“Coach (Russ) Brown’s teams are going to play hard and they’re scrappy and we knew that,” Macon East coach Glynn Lott said. “We knew they wouldn’t go away. But we took away their 3. I think we played a lot better defensively than we did (in the opening round) against Hooper. We’re going to have to keep playing good against (Autauga).”
Macon East (12-7) has won nine of its 12 games since Lott took the reins of the program with all three losses to Elite Eight participants. And while the Knights defeated Sparta earlier this season under former head coach Lincoln Glass, Lott knew it was important to get in front of the Warriors early and keep them from heating up on the perimeter. Macon East, meanwhile, needed a boost from its own perimeter offense to shake the Warriors loose from their defensive alignment.
“We felt like they were going to play a zone, which they did,” Lott said. “We didn’t attack it the way we wanted to, to start the game. We did in the second quarter but not in the first quarter. We do our antics usually in the first and just do our wild stuff, but we finally settled down and figured it out a little bit. Maurice (Poole) hit those 3s, so they ran a box-and-one on him, which opened up the baseline.”
Poole scored all 12 of his points in the first half, hitting a 3 pointer late in the first quarter and two more in the second to force Sparta to extend its defense. That’s when Macon East started attacking in the paint, turning a three-point lead at the end of the first quarter into a 10-point lead midway through the second period and a 15-point lead midway through the third.
“We’ve worked on our inside game,” Lott said. “That wasn’t something that was one of our strengths but with Tyler (Daniels) and Stone (Yarnell) in there and Carlos (Carter) coming back, we have some good players inside but we just don’t use them sometimes. They don’t use their bodies enough but they did today and we played pretty well inside.”
Chase Dumas also contributed to the rebounding effort, scoring points both in the paint and on the perimeter to finish with a game-high 17 points.
Jesse Anderson led Sparta with 13 points, followed by Bryson Pate with eight.
Autauga Academy 56, Wilcox Academy 53
JayQuan Cohen made both ends of the one-and-one on consecutive possessions to help the Generals hold off Wilcox Academy in the AISA Class AA Elite Eight at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Saturday afternoon.
Autauga will face Macon East in the AA semifinals on Thursday at 11:30 a.m.
Cohen rescued the Generals, which blew a double-digit lead and actually trailed briefly in the final minutes before A.J. Perry’s 3 pointer put the Generals back on top. Autauga’s DaShawn Jenkins blocked Jack Sessions’ lane drive moments later, setting the stage for Cohen’s free throws.
Autauga hit 14 of 19 free-throw attempts, including 7 of 8 in the fourth quarter.
The Generals led 26-17 at the half and still owned a five-point lead with under five minutes remaining when Wilcox scored five consecutive points, the last on a Cooper Dixon free throw that tied the game with 3:06 remaining, setting the stage for a great finish.
Cohen finished with 10 points, hitting a 3 pointer late in the third quarter and another in the fourth before sinking four free throws.
Perry led the Generals with 23 points.
Dixon had 22 points to lead Wilcox, hitting a pair of 3 pointers in the fourth to bring the Wildcats back.
Escambia Academy 59, Chambers Academy 52
Landon Sims led four players in double figures with 17 points as the Cougars used a balanced attack to dispose of Chambers in the AISA Class AA Elite Eight at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Saturday.
Escambia will play Edgewood in the AA semifinals on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Daughtry McGhee had 14 points for Escambia, followed by Chaston Helton with 12 and Maliki Haynes with 11.
Josh Holliday hit four 3 pointers to lead Chambers, scoring 15 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. Kross Colley added 10.
Edgewood Academy 35, Patrician Academy 33
The Wildcats scored just five points in the fourth quarter but it was enough to hold off the Saints 35-33 in the AISA Class AA Elite Eight at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Saturday.
Edgewood will play Escambia in the AA semifinals on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Austin Champion scored all eight of Edgewood’s points in the first quarter for an 8-4 lead and finished with 15 points, followed by Caleb Justiss with 13.
Patrician rallied with a strong second quarter to take an 18-14 lead but fell behind 30-24 by the end of the third quarter and just couldn’t find enough offense to advance.
Jay Lindsey, Tyler Lewis and Dalton Bracknell each had seven points to lead Patrician.