AISA AA SEMIS: Macon East hangs on for win; Lowndes girls advance
By TIM GAYLE
Every high school basketball team has had its challenges in a coronavirus world, but losing your coach in the middle of the season only adds to the obstacles Macon East Academy has faced this season.
The Knights were 3-4 in early January when head coach Lincoln Glass was dismissed. Twelve games later, Macon East has picked up the pieces and advanced to the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA state championship game.
“I knew since he got released that we were going to be able to do it,” senior Chase Dumas said, “because we dedicated the season to him.”
Dumas torched Autauga Academy for 20 points to help the Knights to a comfortable lead before Macon East had to hang on late for a 46-40 win over the Generals in the AA semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Thursday afternoon.
Macon East (12-7) will play Escambia Academy for the AA state title on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
Autauga ends the season at 12-4.
“We knew they were going to come back and play hard,” Macon East coach Glynn Lott said of the Generals. “When you get to the final four, you’re going to play hard. They didn’t want their season to end any more than we did. But we put a lot of pressure on ourselves in the second half by not making plays. We just didn’t handle the ball very well in the second half.”
But for the better part of three quarters, Macon East looked like a well-oiled machine with Dumas supplying most of the offensive punch and the Generals clearly out of sync against the Knights’ defense.
“We played ‘man’ most of the time this year and we came out in a zone today,” Lott said. “We felt like with their shooters and their two inside guys, we had to give up one or the other, so we tried to neutralize them by running a zone and in the first half it worked. We played really well defensively in the first half.”
With the interior cut off by a zone defense, Autauga guards would often drive into the lane or toward the baseline, then freeze in uncertainty, managing just an A.J. Perry 3 pointer in the first quarter and three field goals in the second.
“You have to tip your hat to the Macon East coach,” Autauga coach Letwan Hall said. “He came out in a 1-3-1. We were expecting ‘man,’ so it took us a moment to adjust. A 1-3-1 is not a defense to figure out quickly and it’s hard to make those adjustments during timeouts. Once we got to halftime, we were able to make the adjustments, but now you’re in a 15-point hole.
“I still thought we got good shots, we just didn’t make them. You’re down 27-12 at halftime, it’s not the 27 that’s the problem, it’s the 12. We just had a really, really bad first half.”
Dumas, who had 12 of his 20 points in the first half, said the zone defense was good for the Knights on both ends of the floor.
“It really made it easier for us,” Dumas said. “In ‘man,’ you have to keep up with your man and make sure he doesn’t backdoor you. It’s not like a regular zone, so you get to save your energy and save it for the fastbreaks.”
The Generals opened up the second half with a run and trimmed the deficit to eight points. Midway through the fourth quarter, they were still trailing by five points when a pair of Macon East turnovers cut the deficit to a basket.
“We kind of have this thing where we’re kind of like a first-half team,” Dumas said. “But we’ll tighten it up in the second half for the championship game. We’re kind of known for coming out hard in the first half and in the second half slowing it down but we sped it back up.”
That’s because Maurice Poole, silent for most of the game, hit both ends of the one-and-one on consecutive possessions to send the Knights to the finals.
“You didn’t really see their best player,” Hall said, referring to Poole. “The last two games, he had six 3s in both games. He had one basket tonight. But when you can hand it over to your partner, ‘24’ (Dumas) made some tough shots. We wanted them to have to make tough shots to beat us. I thought if we took ‘3’ (Poole) away, ‘24’ couldn’t do enough to beat us. I didn’t think they could get to 50 without ‘3.’ They didn’t get to 50, but we just didn’t score the points we normally score.”
It was a disappointing end to the season, but Hall’s first year as an Autauga Academy coach had a lot of positives.
“It was truly amazing,” he said. “A great group of guys. I love them to death. Like I told them, we didn’t lose today, we just ran out of time. They left it all out there and that’s all you can ask for as a coach.”
Lott’s group, meanwhile, is making its fourth trip to the championship game in the last six years but few could have envisioned a struggling team in January would change coaches and still be playing in mid-February.
“Even before all this, we knew they had a chance in AA with the talent we have,” Lott said. “But everyone at the school agreed, when all that went on, that we just had to do what was best for the kids. And it took them some time to get used to me and we’re trying to get used to each other. But we’ve kind of gotten to know which ones you can joke with and which ones you can’t, which ones you have to ride and which ones you can’t.
“I’m just proud for them, that they got to this point with all that has gone on in their season and gone on in the world in general.”
BOYS BASKETBALL
Escambia Academy 55, Edgewood Academy 25
The Cougars got five points each from Landon Sims and Daughtry McGhee in a 14-point second quarter to give them a comfortable cushion over Edgewood before pulling away in the second half for a 30-point win over the Wildcats in the Alabama Independent School Association AA semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Thursday afternoon.
Escambia will play Macon East Academy for the AA boys state championship on Tuesday at the Multiplex at 5:30 p.m.
Escambia turned a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter into a 13-point cushion at the half, then extended the lead in the second half with a transition game that the Wildcats couldn’t stop.
Sims finished with 14 points, followed by McGhee and Maliki Haynes with 10 points each.
Caleb Justiss led the Wildcats with 12 points, followed by Austin Champion with 10.
Heritage Christian 56, Abbeville Christian 54
Greyson Sanford scored 17 points to help Heritage Christian rally from a third-quarter deficit with 23 points in the final period to defeat the Generals 56-54 in the A semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Wednesday.
Heritage Christian will face Evangel Christian in the Class A boys championship game on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.
Abbeville led 9-6 at the end of the first quarter, 21-17 at the half and 36-33 at the end of the third quarter before the Eagles caught fire in the final quarter.
Zack Tucker added 12 points for Heritage, followed by Michael Hart with 10.
Dre Cobb led Abbeville Christian with 17 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter as the Generals tried to catch the Eagles. Jackson Blalock added 12, followed by Parker Ludlam with 10.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lowndes Academy 36, South Choctaw Academy 27
Faith Lane and Mollie Powell each contributed huge 3 pointers to take command in the first quarter and roll past South Choctaw Academy in the AA semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Thursday morning.
Lowndes will play Southern Academy for the AA girls state championship on Tuesday at the Multiplex at 3 p.m.
The Rebels took a 13-6 lead into the second quarter and held off South Choctaw at the free-throw line, hitting 20 of 31 attempts to offset just two field goals in the second half.
Powell led Lowndes with 13 points, followed by Lane with eight.
Emma Kate Williams, Claire Taylor and Claudia Diamond all had six points each for South Choctaw.
Southern Academy 59, Sparta Academy 37
Southern’s defensive pressure gave the Cougars an early lead and it was enough to hold off Sparta the rest of the way in a 22-point win in the AA semifinals on Thursday.
Southern will play Lowndes Academy for the AA girls state championship on Tuesday at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl at 3 p.m.
Southern jumped out to a quick 14-5 lead and even though Sparta was within 11 points at the half the Warriors could never climb back into the contest.
Mckenzie Deason and Leanna Layton each had six points to lead Sparta.
Augusta Arnold had 19 points for Southern, followed by Magan Chapman with 15 and Jordan James and Riley Newton with 10 points each.
Abbeville Christian 54, Heritage Christian 30
Caroline Armstrong scored 20 points, including a 12-of-17 performance at the free-throw line, as the Generals blasted Heritage on Wednesday to advance to the A girls championship game against Pickens on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Abbeville Christian jumped on Heritage 18-6 in the first quarter with the help of Lyla Carlisle, who hit a pair of 3s and scored all eight of her points in the first quarter.
Amiyah Govan added 16 points, followed by Anna Grace Blalock with 10.
Tristan Stoutermire led Heritage with 14 points.