CLASS 7A BOYS REGIONAL: Carver ends region title drought with win over Park Crossing

Carver’s Zander Frazier drives for a layup in the Wolverines’ win over Park Crossing Tuesday at Garrett Coliseum. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

It’s been a long drought by G.W. Carver standards.

The Wolverines went to the state tournament nine times in the final 10 years of J.J. Jackson’s coaching tenure, including three state championships and five trips to the state finals.

Since Jackson’s resignation in the summer of 2019, the Wolverines have made the regionals just once before this season. Now, after a 67-49 win over Park Crossing in the South Regional championship game on Tuesday, Carver is headed back to the state tournament.

“They did it as a team,” Carver coach Reginald Sprouse said. “We talked about having mental toughness throughout the school year, with all the things that we’ve been through, and it showed today.”

Going to the state tournament “is very big, especially for Carver,” he added. “This is a major accomplishment for us. We’re getting headed back down that right road, getting back to Birmingham like every other year or every year, like we need to be.”

Carver (18-14) will play Mountain Brook (26-6) in the state semifinals at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena on Feb. 28 at 1:30 p.m. To get there, the Wolverines needed some offense to pull away from a 19-18 halftime deficit and grab control of the game in the third quarter.

“We got a couple of shots to fall and that’s what pushed us over the top,” Sprouse said. “We got good shots in the first half, we just weren’t making them, so then those shots started falling in the second half and it took us where we needed to be.”

The Wolverines outscored the Thunderbirds 19-13 in the third quarter, then put together a 30-point fourth quarter as the shots starting falling. Landon Parker led the Wolverines with 16 points. Conor McPherson, Zander Frazier and Jharvey Deramus all had 12 points each.

Jayden Scott led Park Crossing (17-12) with 26 points and nine rebounds.