CHAPMAN TIP OFF: Autaugaville winning streak comes to an end; Loachapoka girls beat Pike Road in OT
The Autaugaville boys and Loachapoka girls advanced to the championship of the Larry Chapman Tip Off tourney at Montgomery Academy on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Autaugaville coach Darren Golson wasn’t really disappointed in his team after the Eagles lost a game for the first time since 2019.
He was mad. Maybe a little frustrated, but definitely mad.
The defending 1A state champions rolled through 30 opponents last year, relying heavily on the talents of 6-foot-8 Dewaun Stubbs and the rebounding prowess of 260-pound Makenzie Bristow-Matthews in the paint.
Stubbs graduated and took his talents to Central State, while Bristow-Matthews exhausted his eligibility after transferring from the Montgomery Public School system last year, leaving a bunch of experienced guards that can handle the ball and shoot from the perimeter, but don’t block out and are often vulnerable in the paint.
“Right now, we’re guard-oriented and we think that way,” Golson said. “Even when I play my guards in the back when we run a particular defense, if they play on the block they think like guards. ‘Somebody else is going to rebound the ball besides me.’ We’ve got to get them out of that mode.”
That didn’t surface against the shorter Prattville Christian Academy players last week, nor was it particularly fatal in the first game of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip Off Classic against Pike Road on Monday because the Patriots’ top interior players are still on the football field.
On Tuesday against Loachapoka, however, the Eagles met their match: a team that could run with them, a team that could shoot from the perimeter and one that knew how to attack and defend in the paint.
The result was a 49-40 win by the Indians, snapping a 36-game winning streak by Autaugaville and handing the Eagles (6-1) their first loss of the 2021-22 season. Both teams will be back in action on Wednesday in the tournament at Montgomery Academy, but it will be Loachapoka playing in the championship game at 3 p.m., while Autaugaville plays Marbury in the consolation finals at noon.
“We need to get back to playing team ball,” Golson said. “That’s what we have gotten away from. It’s not just this game, it was prior games. They think they can cut it on and cut it off at any given time and they won’t do what you tell them to do, but we’re going to fix it.”
Against the Indians, Jaden Nixon hit a trio of 3 pointers in the second quarter to turn an early deficit into a 20-17 halftime lead, but the Eagles never looked in sync offensively. Loachapoka surged back in front late in the third quarter, then sat back and controlled the game with ball handling and rebounding, content to let the Eagles fire away from the perimeter to no avail.
“We weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing,” Golson said. “You call timeout and tell them, they still want to do what they want to do.”
Nixon finished with 20 points to lead Autaugaville, while Jasavien Moore had 16 for Loachapoka, Jamari Payne had 13 and Jordan Sinclair had 11.
The two teams are familiar with each other as Region 4 rivals in football, but in basketball they are in adjoining areas that play in separate regionals, meaning the two would not meet again until the 1A finals in the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center on March 3.
For Golson on Tuesday, the prospect of returning to the state tournament seemed far away but he promised Autaugaville fans that the Eagles would return to the fundamentals before starting area play in January.
“We’ve got plenty of time,” he said. “We’re trying to fix it before the second half of the season. We’re going to be all right.”
Loachapoka girls advance to finals in win over Pike Road
It took Loachapoka three quarters to figure out Pike Road’s best ball handler wasn’t on the floor and then the Indians went to work, using their strength to exploit the Patriots’ weakness to earn a 41-37 overtime victory and advance to the championship of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip Off Classic.
Loachapoka (5-2) will face Brewbaker Tech in the finals on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at Montgomery Academy’s Joe Mooty Court. Pike Road (2-1) suffered their first loss and will play Montgomery Academy in the consolation finals on Wednesday at noon.
The game was particularly frustrating for Pike Road coach Barry Fencher, who watched the Indians pull within a basket at the end of the third quarter, pull ahead briefly in the fourth quarter and then get back-to-back baskets from guards Taylah Murph and Jasmyn Thomas to take the lead for good in the final two minutes of overtime.
It was frustrating for Fencher because his point guard, senior Jada Roberts, didn’t play on Tuesday, forcing forward Jazz Johnson to take over the point and leaving his other guards to help Johnson on the offensive end of the floor, creating a mismatch that Murph and Thomas finally began to exploit in the final 12 minutes of regulation and overtime.
“It’s still early (in the season),” Fencher said. “We haven’t really had a chance to get in a rhythm. Without my number one ball handler, it really makes us struggle. We’ve got people playing out of position and it makes Jazz have to work so much.
“You play games like this and teams like this to get you ready for the long run. We depend on a lot of turnovers and one of the things that they do is they have ball handlers that really hurt us in our traps.”
Even when the Patriots appeared to have the upper hand, they never looked comfortable on offense, struggling to get into their offensive game plan. Loachapoka also struggled (neither Murph nor Thomas scored a point in the first quarter), but gradually starting exploiting their ball-handling advantage.
Murphy finished with 19 points before fouling out, while Thomas added 11.
Johnson led Pike Road with 11 points, followed by Kelsey Williams with eight and Gracie Branham with six.
“Last year, we would have lost this game by 20 or 30 points,” Fencher said. “I see the growth of the program. You give them assignments, they’re so young they still figure they can do it their way so a lot of stuff we’re doing is self-inflicted.”
BOYS
Pike Road 53, Brew Tech 50
Blayne Battaglia hit a 3 pointer from the left corner in front of the Pike Road bench with four seconds left to break a 50-50 tie and lift the Patriots to a 53-50 win over area rival Brewbaker Tech in the second round of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip Off Classic at Montgomery Academy on Tuesday afternoon.
Battaglia hit a 3 pointer early as the Patriots built a 13-point lead at the half, then had five points in the final quarter after the Rams rallied to tie the game late. He also had six rebounds.
Jay Cooper led Pike Road (2-1) with 19 points and six rebounds. Alijah Hicks added eight points, eight rebounds and two assists.
Xavier Sutton led Brew Tech with 21 points, all in the second half. Machi Gilchrist had 10 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, and Trey Griffin had nine, including six in the final period.
Both teams return to action in the tournament on Wednesday with Pike Road playing Booker T. Washington for fifth place in the tournament at 10:30 a.m. and Brew Tech playing Montgomery Academy for seventh place at 10:30 a.m.
Booker T. Washington 82, Montgomery Academy 44
Joseph Talley scored 15 points to lead Montgomery Academy, but the patched-together team of varsity and junior varsity players was no match for Booker T. Washington in the second round of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip Off Classic at Montgomery Academy on Tuesday.
Cole Caddell added 11 points for the Eagles (0-2), followed by John Alford, James Marshall and Walton Norrell with five points each.
Both teams return to action in the tournament on Wednesday with Booker T. Washington playing Pike Road for fifth place in the tournament at 10:30 a.m. and Montgomery Academy playing Brew Tech for seventh place at 10:30 a.m.
Sardis 57, Prattville Christian 52
GUNTERSVILLE -- Freshman Conner Williams had 14 points and six rebounds, but the Panthers couldn’t overtake Sardis in the second round of the Supreme Courts Thanksgiving Tournament on Tuesday.
Carson Roberson and PJ Evans each scored 10 points for the Panthers, followed by Cade Segars with eight. Coleman Hunter added seven points and six rebounds, Camron Coleman had three points and five rebounds and Brady Hughes dished out nine assists.
PCA (3-2) will play Cedar Bluff in the tournament on Wednesday at 12:15 p.m.
Autauga Academy 62, Fort Dale Academy 31
HOPE HULL -- Robert Rose scored 16 points and A.J. Perry added 14 as the Generals rolled past the Eagles 62-31 in the second round of the Hooper Academy Thanksgiving Classic on Tuesday at Darrell Self Memorial Gym.
Pharrell Banks and Josh Palmer each added nine for Autauga Academy (2-0).
Autauga Academy 63, Hooper Academy 33
HOPE HULL -- Josh Palmer scored 15 points and A.J. Perry added 10 as the Generals opened the season with a balanced scoring attack to take down the host Colts in the opening round of the Hooper Academy Thanksgiving Classic at Darrell Self Memorial Gym on Monday.
Pharrell Banks added nine points for Autauga, followed by Ashton Cannon with eight and Robert Rose and Deuhn Carroll with seven points each.
GIRLS
Brew Tech 45, Montgomery Academy 39
Virginia Meacham scored 19 points to keep Montgomery Academy close, but the Eagles couldn’t make up for the loss of Chloe Johnson in dropping a 45-39 game to Brewbaker Tech in the second round of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip Off Classic at Joe Mooty Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Johnson struggled through an illness in the first game but couldn’t go against the Rams, leaving Meacham as the only player with any substantial varsity experience.
Hayes Jenkins scored 11 points for Montgomery Academy (1-1), while Pierson Hartley had 10 rebounds.
Both teams return to action in the tournament on Wednesday, with Brew Tech playing Loachapoka for the tournament championship at 1:30 p.m., while Montgomery Academy will play Pike Road in the consolation finals at noon.
Prattville Christian 58, Plainview 38
GUNTERSVILLE -- Ella Jane Connell had 24 points and six rebounds to lead the Panthers to a win over Plainview in the Supreme Courts Thanksgiving Tournament on Tuesday night.
Avery Rogers added 13 points and five steals, Hannah Jones had 11 points and 11 rebounds and CoCo Thomas added eight points and nine rebounds.
PCA (8-0) returns to action in the tournament on Wednesday against Gadsden City at 2:30 p.m.
Prattville Christian 58, Southside-Gadsden 33
GUNTERSVILLE -- Hannah Jones scored 16 points, pulled down seven rebounds and blocked five shots to lead the Panthers to an easy win over Southside-Gadsden in the Supreme Courts Thanksgiving Tournament on Tuesday morning.
Avery Rogers added 13 points and six assists, while Ella Jane Connell had 13 points and five assists. CoCo Thomas added eight points and four rebounds and Kayden Carr scored three points.
PCA (7-0) returned to action later in the day against Plainview.
Pike Road 49, Stanhope Elmore 45
Emerson Sporh scored 18 points to lead the Patriots to a hard-fought win over Stanhope Elmore in the opening round of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip Off Classic at Montgomery Academy on Monday.
Jazz Johnson finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for Pike Road (2-0), while Gracie Branham chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.
Both teams return to action in the tournament on Tuesday, with Pike Road playing Loachapoka and Stanhope Elmore playing Jeff Davis.
COACH LARRY CHAPMAN FOUNDATION
TIP OFF CLASSIC at Montgomery Academy
BOYS
Monday
Game 1 -- Loachapoka 60, Brew Tech 54
Game 2 -- Jeff Davis 70, Booker T. Washington 64
Game 3 -- Autaugaville 53, Pike Road 47
Game 4 -- Marbury 87, Montgomery Academy JV 55
Tuesday
Game 5 -- Jeff Davis 78, Marbury 48
Game 6 -- Booker T. Washington 82, Montgomery Academy JV 44
Game 7 -- Loachapoka 49, Autaugaville 40
Game 8 -- Pike Road 53, Brew Tech 50
Wednesday
Game 9 -- Montgomery Academy vs. Brew Tech, 10:30 a.m.
Game 10 -- Pike Road vs. Booker T. Washington, 10:30 a.m.
Game 11 -- Marbury vs. Autaugaville. noon
Game 12 -- Championship game: Loachapoka vs. Jeff Davis, 3 p.m.
GIRLS
Monday
Game 1 -- Pike Road 49, Stanhope Elmore 45
Game 2 -- Brew Tech 70, Marbury 42
Game 3 -- Loachapoka 47, Jeff Davis 32
Game 4 -- Montgomery Academy 46, Autaugaville 19
Tuesday
Game 5 -- Loachapoka 41, Pike Road 37 (OT)
Game 6 -- Stanhope Elmore 52, Jeff Davis 22
Game 7 -- Brew Tech 46, Montgomery Academy 39
Game 8 -- Marbury 50, Autaugaville 45
Wednesday
Game 9 -- Jeff Davis vs. Autaugaville, 9 a.m.
Game 10 -- Stanhope Elmore vs. Marbury, 9 a.m.
Game 11 -- Pike Road vs. Montgomery Academy. noon
Game 12 -- Championship game:Loachapoka vs. Brew Tech, 1:30 p.m.