PREP WEEKLY RECAP: Regular season near finish with STJ boys win over MA
Bradley Thomas drives to the goal against MA’s Judson Lindsey in St. James’ win over the Eagles (Tim Gayle).
Compiled by TIM GAYLE
Montgomery Academy had just rallied back from a six-point deficit in the final 90 seconds, forcing overtime and grabbing all the momentum in a game that had been largely controlled by St. James for much of regulation.
Undaunted, the Trojans went back to work, scoring eight of the first 10 points in overtime to defeat the Eagles 64-57 on Friday night in the St. James gym.
“I think an overtime game is always about who’s punching first,” St. James coach Nigel Card said. “We came out and we were able to get a couple of easy scores inside and that helped us relax a little more.”
The Trojans were able to get open underneath, where KJ Jackson scored a basket, Bradley Thomas drove the baseline for a basket, Kevin Taylor added a free throw and Thomas came back with another basket and St. James was back in control.
On the other end of the court, Britton Kohn missed a pair of shots, put back a miss and missed another, part of a drought that saw the Eagles come up empty on four of their first five possessions in overtime to fall behind by five points with 62 seconds left.
“They made a couple of shots, but we also had a couple of defensive breakdowns,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said. “They had been running this post-to-post screening action and we talked about swapping it several times and we just had a breakdown where we didn’t get it communicated and do what we were supposed to do. But hats off to them.”
The Trojans had grabbed control of the game early and fought back every MA challenge in the first half, but the Eagles rallied to take a brief lead late in the third quarter, then again late in the game to force overtime.
“We started out kind of sluggish in the first quarter and they got some easy baskets on us,” Arant said. “But we played solid defense in the second quarter. In the third quarter, we got in a little bit of (an offensive) rhythm. We played better in the second and third quarter and in the last minute and a half of regulation we played well to tie it back up.
The Trojans pulled back ahead in the final half of the fourth quarter, but MA rallied with a pair of Kohn baskets and two more from Jamal Cooper as St. James missed the front end of the one-and-one on three consecutive possessions.
“That’s been a concern all year,” Card said. “We have guys that have to accept that role. The guys that are the ones most effective are guys that haven’t been there so I think they’ll get better at it. They’re putting too much stress on themselves about it. Nothing’s wrong with the mechanics, it’s more mental at this point.”
Thomas scored 26 points to lead St. James, including six points in the fourth quarter and five more in overtime. Matt Middleton, pulled up from the junior varsity to replace the quarantined Alex Rountree, added 12 points, followed by Jackson with 11 and Taylor with nine.
St. James (9-6) closes out the regular season at Elmore County on Monday, at home against LAMP on Tuesday and at Prattville Christian on Friday. By virtue of winning a coin flip, the Trojans will host Bullock County in the opening round of the area tournament on Feb. 10, with the winner traveling to Booker T. Washington on Saturday.
The loss overshadowed a career night for Kohn, who had six 3 pointers and finished with 33 points and 15 rebounds. Cooper added 14 points, including a game-tying basket with three seconds left in regulation, and eight rebounds, while Thomas Kirkham and James Snead each grabbed 11 rebounds.
MA (7-9) returns home to play Marbury on Tuesday and will close out the regular season at Chilton County on Thursday. By virtue of winning a coin flip with PCA, the Eagles will travel to second-seeded Trinity in the opening round of the area tournament on Feb. 10.
MA girls 51, St. James 21
Montgomery Academy needed 3 pointers from Julia Williams and Madi Caddell just to get a 9-4 lead heading into the second quarter but the Eagles were able to fight to a 13-point lead at the half before settling down in the second half with the help of six third-quarter points from Chloe Johnson.
“In the first half, I didn’t think we played very well,” Montgomery Academy coach Reg Mantooth said. “We missed some shots that we might normally have hit and I think that affected our overall play defensively. St. James competes, they’re well coached and they play hard. We didn’t play especially well, but they probably had a little bit to do with it, too.
Scoring points has been a problem all year for St. James, but it’s especially difficult when you’re not fielding your full squad and facing one of the better defenses in the state. The Trojans defeated Bullock County and Elmore County earlier in the week with just three varsity players, but were no match for the Eagles on Friday as two varsity players continued to quarantine, but should return in time for the next game on Monday.
KK Hall led St. James (14-6) with six points. The Trojans close out the regular season with games at Elmore County on Monday, at home against LAMP on Tuesday and at Prattville Christian on Friday before hosting the Bullock County-Booker T. Washington winner in the area tournament championship game on Feb. 12.
The St. James girls will then advance to a sub-region game on Feb. 15.
Leighton Robertson led Montgomery Academy (19-2) with 11 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists, followed by Johnson with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven steals, Williams with seven points and six rebounds, Caddell with seven points and Virginia Meacham with six. The Eagles return home to play Marbury on Tuesday and close out the regular season at Chilton County on Thursday before facing Catholic in the opening round of the 3A Area 5 tournament on Feb. 9.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Pike Road 59, Brewbaker Tech 51
PIKE ROAD -- The Patriots battled back from a seven-point deficit at the half to clinch the regular season 5A Area 5 championship and earn the right to host the first round of the area tournament on Feb. 10.
Trey Wallace led the Patriots with 25 points, followed by Jaylen Washington with 10 points.
Pike Road (15-7 overall and 5-0 in area play) travels to Beauregard on Monday to make up an earlier scheduled game.
LAMP 53, BTW Magnet 40
Feliz McGhee scored 24 points to lead the Golden Tigers to a 53-40 win over BTW Magnet to clinch second place in the area.
Landon Townsend added 11 points and six rebounds, followed by Jezreel Fishoe with seven rebounds and four assists.
LAMP (4-8) finished 2-2 in area play and as the second seed will host the first round of the area tournament against BTW Magnet on Feb. 10. The Golden Tigers play at St. James on Tuesday.
Pike Road 53, Tallassee 52
TALLASSEE -- Trey Wallace hit a 3 pointer as time ran out to give the Patriots the area victory over the Tigers on Tuesday night.
Wallace led the Patriots with 13 points, followed by Blake Durham with 11.
Montgomery Academy 48, Prattville Christian 38
The Eagles outscored Prattville Christian 16-7 in the final eight minutes to break open a tight game and secure an area victory by turning back the Panthers.
Montgomery Academy (7-8) and Prattville Christian (7-16) both finished 1-5 in area play and will flip a coin, with the winner of the flip traveling to second-seeded Trinity in the opening round of area tournament play on Feb. 10 and the loser of the flip traveling to regular-season champion Catholic.
Jamal Cooper led a balanced MA attack with 12 points and seven rebounds, followed by Britton Kohn with nine points and five rebounds, James Snead with seven points and seven rebounds and Thomas Kirkham with six points and eight rebounds.
Coleman Hunter led the Panthers with 16 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Carson Roberson with 11 points, Jacob Comer with nine points, four rebounds and four steals. Camron Coleman dished out five assists and Chris Daniel grabbed four rebounds.
Abbeville Christian 53, Evangel Christian 26
Marcus Townsend scored 11 points and Kennedy Holland added six as the Lions struggled to generate any offense in the battle for the Region 1 Area 1 championship in the Evangel gym on Tuesday.
The loss left Evangel (3-1) in second place in the region and forced the Lions to play Snook Christian in the Evangel gym on Feb. 2 at 6 p.m., with the winner advancing to the AISA Elite Eight against Restoration Academy on Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. in the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
Abbeville Christian earned the top seed and a bye in the first round. The Generals will play the winner of the Banks Academy-North River Christian game in the AISA Elite Eight on Feb. 4 at 9 a.m. at the Multiplex.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Prattville Christian 72, Catholic 39
PRATTVILLE -- Ella Jane Connell led the Lady Panthers with 27 points and four steals as PCA (19-5) evened its 3A Area 5 record at 3-3 with a win over the Knights on Friday night.
CoCo Thomas added 14 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Avery Rogers with 12 points, Hannah Jones with 11 points, 13 rebounds and five steals and Chelsea Mulliner with five rebounds.
The Panthers play host to Thorsby on Monday.
Catholic (11-9, 0-4 in area play) will travel to Montgomery Academy on Saturday at 1 p.m. to make up another area game.
LAMP 41, BTW Magnet 26
Caitlin Russell scored 16 points and Mackenzie Lewis added 14 as the Golden Tigers took second place in the area with a 41-26 win over BTW Magnet on Friday.
Amiya Cleveland led BTW Magnet with 13 points.
LAMP (5-7) evened its area record at 2-2 and as the second seed will host the first round of the area tournament against BTW Magnet on Feb. 9. The Golden Tigers play at St. James on Tuesday.
Brew Tech 46, Pike Road 44
PIKE ROAD -- Jazzlyn Johnson led all scorers with 17 points and 17 rebounds, but the Rams rallied to hand the Patriots their first loss in 5A Area 5 play with a 46-44 win in the Pike Road gym on Friday night.
Jada Roberts added 15 points for Pike Road (4-1 in area play), which travels to Beauregard to close out the area schedule on Monday.
Edgewood Academy 47, Evangel Christian 36
ELMORE -- Haylee Brown and Emma Weldon each had four 3 pointers to lead the Wildcats to a win over the Lions in a battle of playoff-bound teams at Edgewood on Thursday night.
Brown had 14 points and Weldon had 12 as Edgewood scored 16 points in the first quarter to take a seven-point lead into the second quarter and were able to hold off Evangel the rest of the way.
Lindsey Brown added 13 points for Edgewood (11-6).
Karley Blankenship also had four 3 pointers to lead Evangel with 15 points, followed by Zaria Johnson with 13.
Edgewood will play host to Macon East Academy on Monday in the first round of the Class AA state tournament, with the winner advancing to the AISA Elite Eight against Southern Academy on Friday at 11:30 a.m. in the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
Evangel, as the top-seeded team in its area, drew a first-round bye in the Class A tournament and returns to action on Wednesday in the AISA Elite Eight against the winner of the Banks Academy-North River Christian game at 9 a.m. at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
St. James 38, Bullock County 30
UNION SPRINGS -- Hannah Grace Griggs scored 11 points to lead the Trojans to a hard-fought win over the Hornets to clinch the 4A Area 3 regular season title on Tuesday night.
Under the new postseason format, St. James (12-5) will not play in the postseason until Feb. 12 in the area tournament championship game when the Trojans will face the winner of the Feb. 9 game between Bullock County and Booker T. Washington.
Montgomery Academy 43, Prattville Christian 38
Ann Cobern Chapman had 11 points to lead the Eagles to a hard-fought win over the Panthers in a defensive struggle at Joe Mooty Court on Tuesday.
Leighton Robertson added six points, five rebounds, three steals and three assists as the Eagles improved to 5-0 in area play with a makeup game with Catholic scheduled for Saturday at home.
Prattville Christian dropped to 2-3 in area play with a makeup game with Catholic scheduled for Friday at home.
Ella Jane Connell led the Lady Panthers with 11 points and five rebounds, followed by CoCo Thomas with 10 points and nine rebounds, Hannah Jones with eight points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots, Avery Rogers with five points and Chelsea Mulliner with four points and six rebounds as PCA (17-5) lost to Montgomery Academy for the fourth time this season.
Pike Road 55, Tallassee 18
TALLASSEE -- Jazzlyn Johnson scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to keep the Patriots unbeaten in 5A Area 5 play with a rout of the Tigers on Tuesday night.
Jada Roberts added 17 points and Samone Patterson had 10 for Pike Road, which improved to 4-0 in area play.