PREP UPDATE: Macon East headed to semis with win over Bessemer Academy; Evangel, Lowndes advance
Macon East’s Kegan Roney drives to the lane for a shot in the Knights’ win on Tuesday. (Dillon Hurst)
COMBINED REPORTS
CECIL -- The Macon East Academy Knights cruised past the Bessemer Academy Rebels, 52-15, in the Class AAA quarterfinals of the Alabama Independent School Association state tournament on Tuesday using a stifling defense in the second half that allowed the Rebels just two points.
“Our calling card all year has been our defense and sometimes we start off slow, but our guys know that defense is what wins championships,” Macon East coach Lincoln Glass said. “We have great leaders in (Wilson and Wilkins) … and they said we need to go out in the second half and pick up the effort and intensity… and that’s what they did.”
The Knights had three players in double-digit scoring, with senior Brandon Wilkins leading the team with 15 points and five rebounds, junior Keagan Roney scoring 13 points and pulling down eight rebounds and junior Gunner Justice adding 10 points.
The Knights will play in the semifinal round at the Multiplex on Thursday, a one year after a heartbreaking one-point loss to Patrician in the quarterfinals.
“Their whole goal since the beginning of this season was to get back to the Multiplex,” Glass said. “Those seniors, they felt that loss last year by one point, and at the beginning of this season, they said we’ve go to win this thing. And they brought it every day in practice, because I know that was in the back of their minds.”
Macon East (24-6)will face Springwood School on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. The winner will play either Lee-Scott- or Glenwood game on Friday at 7 p.m. for the AAA state championship.
Evangel Christian Academy 42, Wilcox Academy 38
Micah Cooley gave Evangel Christian its first lead in the game when he hit a pair of free throws with 9.5 seconds left in the game to send the Lions to their seventh consecutive trip to the AISA Final Four with a 42-38 win over Wilcox in the Class A quarterfinals in the Evangel Christian gym on Tuesday night.
Evangel Christian will play Lowndes Academy in the semifinals on Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
Cooley scored a game-high 16 points, all in the second half, to lead the Lions to victory. Nii Addy added seven points and nine rebounds and Quendarius Rudolph had seven points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Lowndes Academy 58, Banks Academy 49
LOWNDESBORO -- Clayton Hussey had 20 points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots, four assists and three steals to lead the Rebels past the Jets in the AISA Class A quarterfinals in the Lowndes Academy gym on Tuesday night.
Lowndes Academy (17-3) will play Evangel Christian Academy in the A semifinals on Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
Ashton Yelder added 10 points, 13 rebounds and an assist for Lowndes, while Watters Box had 10 points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist. Luke Lovell added eight points, two rebounds and three steals, Clay Duncan had seven points, five rebounds and three steals, Zach Azar had two points and four rebounds and Trey Thomas had one point and a rebound.
Autauga Academy 65, Restoration Academy 59 (OT)
FAIRFIELD -- Cameron Wright scored 21 points, along with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, to lead the Generals to an overtime victory at Restoration Academy in the AISA Class AA quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
Autauga Academy (11-9) will play Abbeville Christian Academy on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in the AA semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
Evan Peak added 16 points, 15 rebounds, a pair of assists and a steal, Damien Dickerson had 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals and Bryant Dupree had seven points and three rebounds for Autauga.
Autaugaville 68, Ellwood Christian 19
AUTAUGAVILLE -- Cortez Parker led a balanced attack with 12 points as the Eagles earned a berth in the sub-regional round for the 15th time in the last 16 years with a 68-19 win over Ellwood Christian in the 1A Area 5 tournament in the Autaugaville gym on Tuesday.
Autaugaville will face Calhoun, a 60-48 winner over Central-Hayneville, in the area tournament finals on Thursday at 6 p.m. Win or lose, the Eagles will be back in action on the following Tuesday in the sub regional.
Jaden Nixon added 11 points for the Eagles, followed by Deshawn Hall with 10.
Prattville Christian 39, BTW Magnet 36
CAMDEN -- Conner Williams led the Panthers with 17 points and five rebounds as PCA won in a defensive strauggle with BTW Magnet in the opening round of the 4A Area 5 tournament at Wilcox Central.
PCA (15-16) will play Wilcox Central, a 74-59 winner over Dallas County, in the area tournament finals on Friday at 6 p.m. Win or lose, the Panthers will advance to a sub region game for the first time since 2020.
Carson Roberson added eight points for the Panthers, followed by Cade Segars with seven points, eight rebounds and five assists, PJ Evans with four points, six rebounds and five assists and Brady Roberson with three points and seven rebounds.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lakeside School, 53, Pickens Academy 23
EUFAULA -- Jayden Green scored 15 points to lead the Lakeside Chiefs to a 30-point win over the Pirates in the AISA Class AA quarterfinals at Pitts Gymnasium on Monday.
Lakeside will play Hooper Academy on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in the AA semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
Chloe Helms added 14 points and six assists for the Chiefs, followed by Eliza Eriksen with 12 points, Sophie Seaborn with eight and Addy Helms with four.
BOYS TENNIS
Trinity 6, LAMP 3
The Wildcats won four of the singles matches and a pair of doubles matches to defeat the Golden Tigers 6-3 on Tuesday.
In singles, Trinity picked up wins from Timothy Hornsby at No. 1, Samuel Treadwell at No. 2, James Treadwell at No. 3 and Trevor Wilson at No. 5. LAMP’s Sun Ho Kim defeated Hudson Cornett at No. 4 and Wooseong Lee defeated Charlie Franklin at No. 6.
In doubles, Samuel Treadwell and James Treadwell defeated Edward Lee and Ian Shin at No. 1and Hornsby and Cornett beat Seunghyun Baek and Ian Kim at No. 2. The LAMP duo of Sun Ho Kim and Wonjun Lee defeated Wilson and Grant Speagle at No. 3.
BTW Magnet 5, Brew Tech 0
BTW Magnet swept the singles matches from the Rams on Monday, with Harrison Conely, Esteban Rodriguez, Joseph Smith and Max Lopez posting wins for BTW over Sean Pouncey, Devin Harper, Tucker Black, Trace Cantrell and Ethan Walton.
GIRLS TENNIS
LAMP 6, Trinity 3
The Golden Tigers won their match against the Wildcats on Tuesday with four wins in singles and two more in doubles.
Posting wins in singles for LAMP were Reena Chen at No. 2, Hannah Lee at No. 3, Grace Liu at No. 5 and Jamie Lo at No. 6.
Trinity’s Margaret Roby defeated Kathleen Doyle at No. 1 singles and Aniston Skipworth beat Dabeen Choi at No. 4.
The LAMP doubles teams of Chen and Doyle at No. 1 and Lee and Liu at No. 2 were also victorious, while Trinity’s Sally Warren and Reese Patterson defeated Hannah Baik and Choi at No. 3.
Brew Tech 6, BTW Magnet 3
The Brew Tech girls’ tennis team won four singles matches to secure the win over BTW Magnet in a tennis match on Monday.
Winning singles for Brew Tech were Ellen Smith at No. 1, Ashley Tiblier at No. 3, Eva Phelps at No. 4 and Kenzie Moore at No. 6.
BTW Magnet’s Trinity Fuller defeated Lizzie Thomas at No. 2 and Morgan McKenzie defeated Kassidy Barnes at No. 5.
In doubles, Thomas and Tiblier won at No. 2 and Barnes teamed up with Berkeley Wright to win No. 3 doubles.