SATURDAY PREP: Macon East, Edgewood win Pepsi Classic
COMBINED REPORTS
CECIL -- The Macon East Academy Knights used their high powered offense and quick tempo play to win 59-52 in a close contest against Evangel Christian in the championship game of the Pepsi Classic on Saturday night in the Macon East gym.
The Knights were able to maintain a high pace during the whole game, using their high-powered offense to keep the Lions off balance.
“Scoring from everywhere on the court is always important because we want to try to run an up-tempo style of play and we want to try to get 80 points a game, that’s our goal,” said Macon East coach Reginald Sprouce. “We’ve got to do a good job of making free throws and converting on turnover opportunities.”
Less depth was a problem for the Lions, but they still played a close game despite fatigue setting in for many starters.
“This one is on me,” Evangel Christian coach Kerwin Washington said. “I didn’t do a good enough job in preparing my guys for this game. We’ve played with mostly seven guys in the games thus far. That caught up with us tonight. I have got to develop one or two more players to help in games.”
The Lions held the lead after the first quarter with a score of 14-12, but the Knights rallied for a seven-point lead, 28-21, at the half, then extended the lead to nine points, 43-34, heading into the fourth quarter.
Maurice Poole led the Knights (9-2) with 13 points, followed by Tyler Daniels with 12 and Jacob Wilson with 11. Brandon Wilkins and Keagan Roney scored seven points each.
Kennedy Holland led the Lions (2-6) with 15 points while Jeremiah Williams scored 11 points. Cyrek Smith and Jhamari Giles both had nine points each.
Evangel Christian returns home to face Restoration Academy next Friday, while Macon East will travel to Selma on Friday to play Morgan Academy.
Edgewood Academy wins girls Pepsi Classic
CECIL -- Lindsey Brown scored 27 points to lead the Edgewood Academy girls to a 49-36 win over Hooper Academy in the Pepsi Classic Basketball Tournament championship game on Saturday at Macon East Academy.
The Lady Wildcats were able to take advantage of turnovers as well as keep up their energy to stay in the game to catch the Lady Colts and pull away late.
“This win was really big for us, and we’re playing really good basketball right now,” said Edgewood head coach Jason Fisher. “This was our fourth game this week, and we were tired, but I just kept telling them to keep up the intensity, and I’ve been coaching these girls to get some turnovers and convert them into points and that’s what we were able to do tonight.”
The Lady Colts had some costly turnovers and left a lot of points at the free-throw line, two shortcomings that cost them down the stretch.
“I was never really comfortable, and you can’t really be comfortable playing a good basketball team,” said Hooper Academy coach Buzz Phillips. “We missed 14 free throws and those could have been converted into more points. And we had a lot of turnovers. Any time you’re playing a good basketball team like Edgewood and you give them the basketball, they’re going to do something with it.”
By the end of the first quarter, in a 12-12 game, Hooper was able to earn a slight lead by halftime, 22-19. But in the third, key steals allowed Edgewood to take a 33-27 lead, before the Wildcats found their stride offensively in the fourth quarter to pull away.
Jaylen Strength followed Brown in scoring with nine points, while Kennedy Mensch and Madison Martin both had four points for Edgewood (6-4). Molly Snow scored three points and Emma Weldon had two points.
For the Lady Colts (5-5), Sydney Dicks led the scoring with 20 points. Ashlee Norman added five points, while Raylee Midkill had four. Hanna Reed and Victoria Hagmen both had three points and Grace Seale had one point.
Hooper returns to the floor on Friday in the Lowndes Christmas Tournament, while Edgewood returns home to play Evangel of Alabaster on Monday.
GIRLS
Prattville Christian 56, Prattville 37
PRATTVILLE -- Tournament MVP Ella Jane Connell had 13 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals as the Panthers eased by the 7A Lions 56-37 in the championship game of the Autauga County Basketball Tournament at Prattville High’s Powell Gym on Saturday.
Avery Rogers added 16 points and four steals. All-Tournament selection Hannah Jones had 15 points, 13 rebounds and five steals. CoCo Thomas added 10 points and 13 rebounds. Kayden Carr grabbed seven rebounds.
PCA (14-0) will face area rival Montgomery Academy in the opening round of the Jack Schweers Capital City Conference Tournament on Saturday at 4 p.m.
BOYS
Autauga Academy 60, Glenwood School 57
PHENIX CITY -- Robert Rose had 37 points and four steals to lead the unbeaten Generals past the Gators in the Glenwood gym on Saturday.
Pharrell Banks added 13 points and seven assists for Autauga (6-0), followed by Deuhn Carroll with seven points, six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
Prattville Christian 69, Billingsley 13
PRATTVILLE -- Coleman Hunter had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Panthers past Billingsley in the Autauga County Basketball Tournament at Prattville’s Powell Gym on Saturday morning.
Carson Roberson added 14 points and four assists, followed by Cade Segars with 13 points and Brady Roberson with 11. Camron Coleman scored six points. Conner Williams added five points, five rebounds and five assists. Brady Hughes had eight assists and eight rebounds and Collin Ross grabbed eight rebounds.
PCA improved to 5-6 with the win.
Prattville 52, Prattville Christian 35
PRATTVILLE -- All-tournament team selection Carson Roberson led the Panthers with 14 points in Saturday’s 52-35 loss to the 7A Lions in the Autauga County Basketball Tournament at Prattville High’s Powell Gym.
Conner Williams added nine points and four rebounds, followed by Coleman Hunter with eight points and seven rebounds. Camron Coleman scored three points. Cade Segars dished out six assists and Brady Hughes and Brady Roberson each grabbed four rebounds.
PCA (5-7) will play Highland Home in the first round of the Jack Schweers Capital City Conference Tournament at Trinity on Saturday.
Fairfield 43, Robert E. Lee 37
The Generals struggled on offense in the second quarter, managing just four points late in the quarter and falling behind Fairfield in the Youth-N-Action High School Showcase at Garrett Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Legreer Surles led the Generals with 11 points, followed by Kendari Harris with nine and Laneer Surles with eight as the Generals struggled to find any offensive rhythm in the final three quarters after playing Fairfield even in the first quarter.
Lee (4-2) plays host to Jeff Davis on Monday at 4 p.m.
Success Unlimited Academy 65, Valiant Cross 54
Randi Ovalle scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Mustangs hold off Valiant Cross 65-54 in the Youth-N-Action High School Showcase at Garrett Coliseum on Saturday.
Valiant Cross led early, trailed by four at the half and tried to mount a rally in the fourth quarter, but each time Ovalle was there to keep Success Unlimited in front.
Willie James added 12 points for the Mustangs.
Corey Brown led Valiant Cross with 15 points, followed by Jordan Archie with 12 and Antavious Jackson with 10.