LARRY CHAPMAN TOURNEY BOYS - MA enjoys dominating win over Marbury
Montgomery Academy’s Braden Gordon goes up for a shot against, Marbury’s Jalen Hall on Monday at the Larry Chapman Tip-off Tourney. (Ryan Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The points keep climbing for Montgomery Academy, which scored 74 points in its opener, 86 the following night and now 95 in a 95-46 win over Marbury in the opening round of the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Tip-Off Tournament at Joe Mooty Court on Monday afternoon.
When you have Capital City Conference Player of the Year Skyler Stovall sinking baskets and forward DJ Vinson cleaning up around the basket, the problem isn’t the offense.
“We’ve been talking a lot to our guys about trying to focus defensively on some things we’ve been working on,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said. “Obviously, we’ve got some really talented guys and the goal in the early part of the season has been to try and get them to defend with an edge, a little bit of a chip on their shoulder, and I thought at times we did that in the game today.”
Every Montgomery Academy player scored as the Eagles scored 29 points in the first quarter and owned a 50-30 lead over the Bulldogs at the half. A running clock in the fourth quarter kept the Eagles from hitting the century mark, but they’re still averaging 85 points per game this season.
“Offensively, if we’ll share the ball and make the right pass and all that stuff, we have a lot of talented players who can put the ball in the basket,” Arant said. “You have to commit to defending people because that’s what is going to win games in February. We brought coach (Reg) Mantooth in (as a boys’ assistant) and that’s something that he’s really, really good at is teaching halfcourt man-to-man defense and how to play it.”
Stovall finished with a triple double, scoring 20 points along with 11 rebounds, 10 steals and four assists. Braden Gordon added 17 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Cade Segars scored 15 points on 5 3-pointers along with three rebounds and an assist. Freshman Mason Ellis scored 13 points, had four steals and handed out three assists. Vinson chipped in six points and grabbed eight rebounds with two blocked shots. Jarrett Friendly had seven points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals and Will Renfroe had seven points, five rebounds and an assist.
Montgomery Academy (3-0) will play Brew Tech in the second round of the tournament on Tuesday at 1 p.m., while Marbury will play St. James at 1 p.m.
COACH LARRY CHAPMAN FOUNDATION TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT
BOYS
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
Lee-Scott JV 51, Pike Road JV 43
Montgomery Academy JV 46, St. James JV 10
TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE
Game 5 -- Brew Tech vs. Montgomery Academy, 1 p.m.
Game 6 -- St. James vs. Marbury, 1 p.m.
Game 7 -- Alabama Christian vs. Lee-Scott, 4 p.m.
Game 8 -- Pike Road vs. Prattville Christian, 4 p.m.
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
Championship Game, Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7, 3 p.m.
Consolation Game, Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7, noon
Fifth-Place Game, Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 8, 10:30 a.m.
Seventh-Place Game, Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8, 10:30 a.m.