CCC BOYS TOURNEY: Trinity holds off LAMP; Wetumpka tops MA

Wetumpka's Nathan Rogers looks for a passing lane to Landon Sargent in Saturday’s game between the Indians and the Montgomery Academy Eagles. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

For the better part of the first half, LAMP seemed to be hitting on all cylinders.

The Golden Tigers kept Trinity from exploiting any size advantage in the paint, kept the outside shooters contained and used its cutters on offense to get open under the basket for easy layups.

Even foul trouble and the lack of a consistent outside shot didn’t seem to bother the Golden Tigers, who built a 22-9 lead three minutes into the second quarter.

At that point, the Golden Tigers’ momentum seemed to fade. And nothing head coach Robb McGaughey did seemed to help his team.

Trinity finally caught up early in the fourth quarter and used the momentum to score 25 points in the final eight minutes, including a 9 of 10 performance at the free-throw line that propelled the Wildcats to a 60-49 win in the 28th annual Jack Schweers Capital City Classic at Captain Jack Court on Saturday afternoon.

Trinity (9-3) will play BTW Magnet in the semifinals of the tournament on Monday at 5:30 p.m., while LAMP (2-9) will face Beauregard in a second-round game on Monday at 1 p.m.

“I think fatigue got us a little bit, playing (Brew Tech on Friday) night,” said McGaughey as the Golden Tigers dropped their fifth consecutive game. “Mentally, we were just not as tough as we needed to be. We continue to hurt ourselves. Not taking anything away from Trinity, they play hard, they play tough, but at the varsity level you’ve got to maintain your composure. It just didn’t happen for us.”

Trinity turned up the defensive pressure late early in the second half and the Golden Tigers struggled to match the Wildcats’ intensity.

“Our effort was fine (in the first half),” Trinity coach Matt Arrighi said. “I thought we were playing soft on defense, giving them too much room to operate. It was the difference of one team executing what they do and another team completely not executing what they do. LAMP did a good job of executing what they do. We did a poor job of executing in every phase of the game. We were not executing our transition offense, we were not executing our half court offense and we were really bad in our half court defense.

“We really didn’t make a whole lot of changes. We talked about executing what we do and we talked about dialing up the pressure. Eventually, I think it wore them down. And we did a much better job of getting shots at the bucket.”

Jackson Taylor led Trinity with 17 points, including 11 in the second half, followed by Cal Bennett with 12, including 10 in the second half.

Jezreel Fishoe led LAMP with 13, followed by Ezekiel Griffin with 12, Smith Carter with 11 and Ethan Russell with eight. Despite a solid effort for much of the contest, the end result was the same for a team that is playing much better than they were a year ago, but with virtually the same win-loss record.

“I think it’s frustrating for (the players) as well as for us,” McGaughey said. “I’m super proud of them, though. We’re going to keep on fighting. They’re going to learn from their mistakes. We’re getting better. You’ve got to go through it and learn from it to win those games. They’re learning. We just have these little lapses that hurt us and we’ve got to grow from it.”

BTW Magnet 55, Beauregard 43

Bryce Brown scored 24 points and Jaivon Griffin added 22 as BTW Magnet pulled away with a 12-4 run in the third quarter to defeat Beauregard in the opening round of the Jack Schweers Capital City Classic on Saturday in the Trinity gym.

BTW Magnet will face Trinity on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in the semifinals, while Beauregard will play LAMP in a second-round matchup on Monday at 1 p.m.

Kam James led Beauregard with 11 points, followed by Sacon Tarver with nine.

Wetumpka 66, Montgomery Academy 62

Nathan Rogers scored 11 of his 27 points in the third quarter as the 6A Indians rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat the 3A Eagles 66-62 in the opening round of the Jack Schweers Capital City Classic on Saturday in the Trinity gym.

Wetumpka (9-2) will play Catholic in the semifinals on Monday at 2:30 p.m., while Montgomery Academy (5-5) will play Prattville Christian in a second-round game on Monday at 4 p.m.

Rogers scored 21 of his points in the second half to lead all scorers, followed by D’marcus Peake with 11 points, including four in the fourth quarter, and Kaden Cook with eight, including a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter.

Skyler Stovall led Montgomery Academy with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Cole Caddell chipped in 14 points and four assists while Seth Edwards added 12 points and six rebounds. DJ Vinson had 11 points, 13 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. JaShawn Cooper chipped in eight points and eight rebounds.

Catholic 63, Prattville Christian 52

Catholic pulled away late with a strong inside presence to defeat Prattville Christian 63-52 in the opening round of the Jack Schweers Capital City Classic on Saturday in the Trinity gym.

Catholic (4-3) will play Wetumpka in the semifinals of the tournament on Monday at 2:30 p.m., while Prattville Christian (5-7) will play Montgomery Academy in a second-round game on Monday at 4 p.m.

Josh Palmer had 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots to lead Catholic to its third consecutive win, followed by Damien Rankins with 14 points, four rebounds and four steals, LJ Green with 12 points, five rebounds, three steals and six assists and Justin Rose with 11 points, four rebounds and three steals.

Carson Roberson led the Panthers with 18 points and four rebounds, followed by Brady Roberson with 13 points and seven rebounds and PJ Evans with 10 points and five rebounds. Cade Segars added eight points and four rebounds, while Collier Connell had three points and four rebounds and Cooper Osborne grabbed six rebounds.  

28TH ANNUAL JACK SCHWEERS
CAPITAL CITY CLASSIC (BOYS)

Saturday’s results

Game 1 -- BTW Magnet 55, Beauregard 43

Game 2 -- Trinity 60, LAMP 49

Game 3 -- Wetumpka 66, Montgomery Academy 62

Game 4 -- Catholic 63, Prattville Christian 52

Monday’s schedule

Game 5 -- BTW Magnet vs. Trinity, 5:30 p.m.

Game 6 -- Wetumpka vs. Catholic, 2:30 p.m.

Game 7 -- Beauregard vs. LAMP, 1 p.m.

Game 8 -- Montgomery Academy vs. Prattville Christian, 4 p.m.

Tuesday’s schedule

Game 9 -- Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 loser, seventh place, 11:30 a.m.

Game 10 -- Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 loser, third place, 1 p.m.

Game 11 -- Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, fifth place, 2:30 p.m.  

Game 12 -- Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, championship, 5:30 p.m.