CENTRAL SUB-REGIONALS: Montgomery Academy dominates Glenwood to reach regionals; trinity advances

MA’s Cade Segars battles Mason McCraine (4) and Trey Claridy in the Eagles’ win in the Class 3A Central Sub Regional game on Saturday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Each win takes Montgomery Academy a little farther into uncharted waters, but the players insist they’re focused on the prize at the end of the season.

Montgomery Academy led Glenwood School 23-0 after one quarter and went on to a 73-31 romp over the Gators in a 3A sub-regional game at MA’s Joe Mooty Court, giving the Eagles 30 wins for the first time in school history.

“We don’t really talk about it, but we should start talking about it more because it’s a big accomplishment,” senior Skyler Stovall said. “We’re really just working game by game to get to the higher goal. Games like this, we came in prepared to take the soul of the other team so we can stay focused and get to the higher goal.”

Montgomery Academy (30-2) advances to play Hale County in the Central Regional semifinals on Wednesday at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome. The Eagles are in the same spot as last year’s team, which saw their championship dreams end in a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Sumter Central.

“We’ve learned from our past,” Stovall said. “The seniors are pushing to practice harder and work harder because we don’t want to feel that again.”

But are they ready for closely contested matchups? Since losing to Class 7A Huntsville on Jan. 3, the Eagles have defeated 14 straight opponents, 13 by double digits. The closest contest in the last six weeks is a seven-point win over Class 7A G.W. Carver. The average margin of victory in that span is 40.3 points.

“I think that (2024 regional semifinal loss to Sumter Central) makes it a little easier, the fact that last year we made it to the regionals and lost a tough one,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said.”We can talk about that a little bit, about how this whole thing can be over like that (snapping his fingers). It was nice to play somebody (Glenwood) we haven’t seen because they get more excited about it. You’ve got to bring it every day or it can be over in a second.”

Brewer Welch led the Eagles with 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals, followed by Stovall with 10 points, four rebounds, six steals and four assists, Braden Gordon with nine points, five rebounds and three assists, Will Renfroe with eight points and three rebounds, Jarrett Friendly with seven points, seven rebounds, four steals and foul blocked shots, Cade Segars with six points and DJ Vinson with five points, eight rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.  

Tyler Sykes had 12 points and Levi Pinder added 11 for Glenwood School, which ends the season at 20-8.

The fact that perimeter shooters were among the leading scorers after hitting nine 3-pointers was a different look for the Eagles, who often rack up points with transition baskets generated by their defense or on drives to the basket. 

“I think what makes us difficult to prepare for is we’ve got seven guys on our team that have scored 20 points in a varsity basketball game in their careers,” Arant said. “Most teams have two, three if they’re lucky. That kind of makes it tough because it can be anybody on any given night.”
They’re three wins away from playing for a trophy, but they were in this same spot a year ago and didn’t advance. Montgomery Academy is making just its third trip to the regionals in the past 10 years. The previous two didn’t advance past the regional semifinals.

“I think they know how many wins we’ve got and where that sits in our history,” Arant said. “We don’t talk about it a whole lot. We’re really trying to focus on what we do each and every day to continue to add to that win column. We have a standard for this team that we want to compete at every day in practice and in the games.”

Trinity 70, Bibb County 66

CENTREVILLE -- John Morris scored 31 points to lead Trinity back to the regionals with a 70-66 win over the Choctaws in the Bibb County gym on Saturday night.

Trinity (18-8) will play Anniston in the Central Regional at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome on Wednesday at either 4:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.

Morris scored eight points in the first quarter and nine points in the second to account for 17 points in the first half, then had seven points in each of the final two quarters, along with 15 rebounds.

Persson Clements added 11 points, followed by Wilson Cherry with 10, Kamari Hutson with nine and Brady Bennett with seven.

The two teams battled evenly through the first half and went into the locker room tied at 33-33, but the Wildcats surged ahead in the third quarter 50-46, then held off the Choctaws at the free throw line in the final moments despite hitting just 8 of 15 free-throw attempts.

The Choctaws stayed in the game with 10 3-pointers, including four each from Elijah Jackson and Javen Mitchell.

Jordan Leverette led Bibb County with 17 points, followed by Jackson with 16, Mitchell with 14 and Xavier Rhine with eight.

Trinity snapped an 11-year regional drought last year by advancing to the 3A Central Regional finals against Sumter Central. This year, elevated by Competitive Balance Factor, the Wildcats will compete in Class 4A in a regional that includes Anniston, Fairfield and area rival Booker T. Washington.