CHAMPMAN TOURNEY: Big third quarter lifts MA to tourney title over Lee-Scott
Jarrett Friendly goes for the block against Lee-Scott’s Parker Wright in the championship game of the Larry Chapman Tourney at Montgomery Academy on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant knew Wednesday’s matchup with William Johnson’s Lee-Scott Academy squad in the championship game of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip-Off Tournament would be tougher than many thought.
“William does a really good job, he’s always done a really good job,” Arant said. “His teams are always really well coached, they’re fundamentally sound, they play really, really hard and they do really good stuff on both ends of the floor. We challenged our guys, ‘Hey, we think we’re good. Now’s a chance for you to show that you’re pretty good’ because that’s a really good team that I think is going to give people fits the rest of the season and into February.”
Montgomery Academy passed the test, using 10 points each from Skyler Stovall and Cade Segars in a 31-point third quarter that propelled the Eagles to a 77-44 win over the Warriors on Wednesday afternoon.
Montgomery Academy jumped out to an 11-0 lead, weathered several attempts by the Warriors to climb back into the game, then shifted gears in the third quarter to improve to 5-0 this season.
“We jumped out to a really good start,” Arant said. “I think that’s a testament to our guys being really focused. When you play some games like we’ve played so far, it’s easy not to be focused, so that’s a testament to our seniors and our leaders that our guys were ready to play.”
The Eagles are averaging 83 points per game after five games and winning by an average margin of 40 points.
“They’re a buzz saw,” Johnson said. “They do a great job of moving the ball, sharing the ball, scoring the ball and defensively they’re real good. We would have to ‘help’ so much (inside) and they have shooters on the perimeter and they kick it to them. Their inside-out game is as good as I’ve seen.”
Lee-Scott point guard Haiden Harper led the Warriors with 11 points, followed by Barrett Cook with eight and Chapman Harris with seven.
“Haiden got in foul trouble, which hurt us a little bit,” Johnson said. “It disrupted us. They did a really good job on Haiden.”
The loss was the first of the season for Lee-Scott (6-1), which posted impressive wins over Prattville Christian and Alabama Christian to reach the finals.
“We competed for three days at a high level,” Johnson said. “I thought after halftime their pressure wore us down, which I was worried about going into the tournament. We’ve got a bunch of guys that compete. They don’t back down and they’re going to give you everything they’ve got night in, night out. I’m proud of our guys. We came down here to get better and I feel like we did.”
Segars led the Eagles with 20 points, three steals and two rebounds, followed by Stovall with 19 points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists and Braden Gordon with 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals, two assists and two blocked shots. DJ Vinson had five points, seven rebounds, two steals and four blocked shots and Brewer Welch had four points, four assists and four rebounds.
Montgomery Academy travels to Auburn High on Monday.
Stovall was selected as the tournament’s most valuable player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Gordon, Segars and Welch, along with Harper and Parker Wright of Lee-Scott, Chase Gordon of Brew Tech and Connor Mark of Alabama Christian.
Montgomery Academy’s Graham Martin and St. James’ Donald Evans were honored with the Coach Larry Chapman Character Award.
COACH LARRY CHAPMAN FOUNDATION TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT
BOYS
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
Championship, Montgomery Academy 77, Lee-Scott Academy 44
Consolation, Alabama Christian 76, Brew Tech 65
Fifth-Place, Pike Road 73, Marbury 51
Seventh-Place, St. James 43, Prattville Christian 31
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
Montgomery Academy 83, Brew Tech 20
Marbury 81, St. James 54
Lee-Scott Academy 72, Alabama Christian 57
Pike Road 61, Prattville Christian 45
Championship, Montgomery Academy JV 64, Lee-Scott JV 45
Consolation, Pike Road JV 71, St. James JV 21
MONDAY’S RESULTS
Alabama Christian 71, Pike Road 70
Lee-Scott Academy 81, Prattville Christian 26
Brew Tech 44, St. James 39
Montgomery Academy 95, Marbury 46