PREP HOOPS: MA boys, STJ girls win key area games; Hooper boys stay unbeaten
Reid McBride goes up for a shot against St. James’ Chase Perry in Montgomery Academy’s win on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
COMBINED REPORTS
After a lackluster practice session earlier in the week, Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant was wanting to see a better effort from his players in Friday’s Class 3A Area 5 matchup with St. James.
“One thing that we’ve talked about every day is trying to make this season a daily pursuit to get to an ultimate goal,” Arant said. “We talk about playing to a standard every day, practicing to a standard every day and just try to take it day by day by day.”
The Eagles lived up to the standard on Friday night, scoring the game’s first 13 points before St. James finally got on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer from Chase Perry, then added another 13 points in the first quarter on the way to an 86-34 win over the Trojans at Joe Mooty Court on Friday night.
Montgomery Academy remains in first place in the 3A Area 5 race at 3-0, followed by Dallas County at 2-2 and Alabama Christian at 2-2, Thorsby at 1-2 and St. James at 0-2.
The Trojans will play a trio of area games next week, traveling to Alabama Christian on Tuesday and Thorsby on Thursday before returning home to play Dallas County on Friday.
After a Saturday afternoon game at Brew Tech, the Eagles will travel to Thorsby on Tuesday and Alabama Christian on Thursday.
Montgomery Academy raced out to a 26-7 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 47-14 halfdtime lead as every Eagle played and scored.
“They’re starting to understand a daily pursuit to try to get to where you want to be,” Arant said of his players.
The quick lead meant that starters Skyler Stovall, Braden Gordon and Jarrett Friendly played less and former starter Seth Edwards played more as he rotated with the starters and the reserves.
“Seth played well,” Arant said. “When people play zone -- which they pretty much played a 2-3 zone the entire game -- Seth can get in the middle of that zone and he’s really tough. He can make that free-throw jumper a high percentage of the time and then he’s a good passer out of there, too. Seth is really good against that zone.”
DJ Vinson led Montgomery Academy (18-2) with 13 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots, followed by Braden Gordon with 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two blocked shots and two assists, Jarrett Friendly with 10 points (on 5-for-5 shooting), six rebounds, four steals and an assist and Will Renfroe with 10 points, five rebounds and two steals.
Skyler Stovall added eight points, five rebounds, eight steals and four assists, followed by Reid McBride with seven points, five rebounds and three steals and Edwards with six points, six rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.
Chase Perry led St. James (5-9) with 18 points, followed by Wilson Aman with six.
St. James girls topples MA
It was a battle for first place in the area, but it didn’t take long for St. James to show who was the boss in 3A Area 5.
Montgomery Academy grabbed an early 3-2 lead before the Trojans ripped off 15 consecutive points on the way to a 20-point lead in the first quarter and a 74-26 victory at Joe Mooty Court on Friday night.
After taking a 25-5 lead into the second quarter, the Trojans went on to score the next 14 points, holding the Eagles without a basket for more than six minutes to grab a 44-10 halftime lead.
“The first 20 games of our season have been pretty tough,” St. James coach Katie Barton said. “We’ve played seven Class 7A opponents, we’ve played top-ranked 4A opponents. I was really happy with the way we responded in some of those games. There were three of those games where we were down at halftime and we were able to either come back and win or take the lead in the fourth. I like seeing that grit and not-quit attitude in my team.
“My January is eight area games so I’m challenging my team to keep our standard. We’re going to play a certain brand of basketball and we want to try and do that every possession. When people watch us on the floor, we want them to see that we play together and we play tough and we have some fun while we’re doing it.”
St. James took over first place in the 3A Area 5 race at 2-0, followed by Alabama Christian at 3-1, Montgomery Academy at 2-1, Thorsby at 1-2 and Dallas County at 0-4.
The Trojans will play a trio of area games next week, traveling to Alabama Christian on Tuesday and Thorsby on Thursday before returning home to play Dallas County on Friday.
“We still have two area opponents (Alabama Christian and Thorsby) that we haven’t seen,” Barton said, “and I know ACA is a good team. They’re 16-3 and I know (ACA coach) Spenser Cantrell is going to have them ready.”
After a Saturday afternoon game at Brew Tech, the Eagles will travel to Thorsby on Tuesday and Alabama Christian on Thursday.
The Eagles, held to 10 points in the first half, managed to score nine in the third quarter before a running clock shortened the game in the final period.
“I’m trying to work on a variety of defenses (in the second half),” Barton said. “We working on constantly trying to move the ball. We want to play with a lot of pace. I’ve got a lot of girls that love basketball and play it the right way. I pretty much changed my defense every quarter, so when we do that, I want them to buy in to what we’re doing so that when February comes around we’re ready.”
Natalie Barton led St. James (20-2) with 22 points, six rebounds, eight steals and eight assists, followed by Morgan Lilly with 18 points, three rebounds and five assists, Jordyn McRae with 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals and Sydney Johnston with six points, two rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Montgomery Academy (7-11), which lost its first area game on Friday, was led by Kaci Armistead with seven points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, , followed by Caroline Waller with six points and Bailey Davis with six points, three rebounds and a steal. The Eagles played the game without their leading scorer, Sophia Cho.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Hooper Academy 54, Fort Dale Academy 41
GREENVILLE -- Luke Moseley scored eight points in the first quarter and six more in the second to help the Colts remain unbeaten with a strong second-quarter performance that propeled them to a 54-41 area victory in the Fort Dale gym on Thursday night.
Moseley finished with 23 points, followed by Jeremy Griggs with 11. Nolan Cole scored all eight of his points in the third quarter to help Hooper extend a six-point halftime lead to 41-30 entering the fourth quarter.
Harrison Scott led Fort Dale with 16 points, followed by Darin Winters with 10.
Hooper (17-0) improved to 2-0 in Class AA Region 1 Area 2 play, while Fort Dale dropped to 0-2.
Hooper’s home game with Chambers on Friday was canceled because of the threat of inclement weather. The Colts will return to action on Tuesday at Valiant Cross Academy.
Alabama Christian 70, Dallas County 59
Christian Snipes had 22 points and five rebounds to help the Eagles even their 3A Area 5 record at 2-2 with a win over the Hornets on Thursday night in the ACA gym.
Snipes scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter as the Eagles outscored the Hornets 24-13 in the final eight minutes.
The game was originally scheduled for Friday but was moved up a day because of the threat of inclement weather on Friday.
Jayden Jones added 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists, scoring 11 of his points in the first quarter, helping the Eagles keep pace as the Hornets climbed out to a 23-18 lead in the first quarter. ACA cut the deficit to 34-32 at the half before tying the game at 46-46 heading into the final period.
Mac Moorer added 15 points and six rebounds and Sam Davidson had 10 points and five rebounds.
Joshua Davis led Dallas County with 31 points, scoring 11 points in the first quarter and 11 of his team’s 13 points in the fourth quarter.
ACA (10-8) will face a pair of area rivals at home next week, playing St. James on Tuesday and Montgomery Academy on Friday.
Springwood School 43, Macon East Academy 37
LANETT -- Jackson Todd led Macon East with 10 points, nine rebounds and a steal as the Knights lost their first Class AA Region 1 Area 1 game on Thursday.
Macon East (1-1 in area play) will travel to Valiant Cross for an area game on Saturday before returning home to play Chambers Academy in an area game on Tuesday.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Alabama Christian 67, Dallas County 12
Addy Newkirk led a balanced attack with 15 points and four rebounds as the Eagles improved to 3-1 in 3A Area 5 play with a rout of the Hornets on Thursday in the ACA gym.
Newkirk scored 11 of her 15 points in a 22-point second quarter as the Eagles extended an 18-3 lead to 40-9 at the half.
The game was originally scheduled for Friday but was moved up a day because of the threat of inclement weather on Friday.
Katelyn Sutton added 12 points, nine steals, six assists and five rebounds, followed by Jaide Newkirk with 12 points and six rebounds and Izzy Warrick with 10 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists.
ACA (16-3) will face a pair of area rivals at home next week, playing St. James on Tuesday and Montgomery Academy on Friday.
Trinity 62, Booker T. Washington 28
TUSKEGEE -- Lilly Smith scored 25 points to lead the Wildcats to a 62-28 win over the Golden Eagles in a 4A Area 5 matchup on Thursday in the BTW gym.
Mya Moskowitz added 14 points for the Wildcats, which improved to 2-1 in area play.
The Wildcats’ game at LAMP, scheduled for Friday, was postponed until next Thursday because of inclement weather.
As a result, Trinity (18-4) will have three area games next week, playing host to Booker T. Washington on Tuesday before traveling to LAMP on Thursday and Tallassee on Friday.
Springwood School 54, Macon East Academy 43
LANETT -- Jamya Powell had 25 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and a steal as the Knights dropped their Class AA Region 1 Area 1 opener to the Wildcats on Thursday night.
Macon East returns home to play host to Chambers on Tuesday in an area game.