TUESDAY HOOPS: Macon East dominates Lakeside in key area win; Catholic clinches area

Macon East’s Jackson Todd works against Thomas Knox of Lakeside in the Knights’ win on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

CECIL -- A 29-point first quarter by Macon East Academy took care of Lakeside in Tuesday’s area matchup as the Knights substituted freely and cruised to their third consecutive win in the Macon East gym.

Macon East led 29-5 at the end of the first quarter as head coach Reginald Sprouse emptied his bench and let junior varsity players play much of the second quarter. 

“We’re headed back on the right track now,” he said. “We’ve got all of our guys back healthy. We had some guys out with COVID and we had some bumps in the road but we’re peaking when we need to be.

“If my bench can come in and fill like they did with Brandon Wilkins and Keagan Roney, we’ll be pretty good.” 

Macon East (15-4) can finish tied with Chambers at 3-1 in AA Region 1 Area 1 play with a win at Lakeside on Thursday, but will lose the tiebreaker with the Rebels based on the point differential in the two regular-season meetings with Chambers. As a result, Macon East will play host to third-seeded Hooper in a first-round playoff game next Tuesday.

So with the playoff pairings already decided, Tuesday’s game didn’t provide much drama. The Knights came out and forced a few early turnovers, hit a few perimeter shots and got steady play from Tyler Daniels, who had 10 points and five rebounds, to take care of the Chiefs.

Sprouse said he would like to see better “execution in the half-court set because I know teams are going to play zone because we’ve got great ball handlers. So we’ve got to do a better job executing in the half court and on the defensive end. I still don’t like a few things that we do defensively, help side. So we’ve got a lot to work on. The good teams we’ve played, they’ve beaten us because we’ve done poorly with those things.” 

Brandon Wilkins led the Knights with 12 points. Jacob Wilson had nine points and Roney had eight points and six rebounds.

Rhodes Bennett led Lakeside with 14 points, followed by Jayden Buckhannon with nine.

“It was a good win for my younger guys to get in and play, the guys that normally don’t get in, it was good for them,” Sprouse said. “But we’ve got a lot of stuff to work on before the playoffs.”

BOYS 

Catholic 67, Trinity 44

T.J. Dudley scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to help the Knights finish the area race unbeaten with a 67-44 win over Trinity in the Catholic gym on Tuesday night.

Ethan Binns added 14 points and five rebounds, hitting four 3 pointers (in five attempts) as Catholic (10-8) completed the 3A Area 6 slate with an unblemished 6-0 record and will host the area tournament on Feb. 10.

LJ Green added 11 points, four steals and four assists and Jayden Phifer added 11 points.

Trinity (12-10) dropped into a tie for third at 1-4 and will flip a coin with Prattville Christian (1-4) to determine the third seed. 

Autauga Academy 77, Hooper Academy 42

PRATTVILLE -- Josh Palmer had 20 points, six rebounds, a pair of assists, five steals and two blocked shots to lead the unbeaten Generals to a 77-42 win over Hooper in AA Region 1 Area 2 play in the Rob Autauga gym on Tuesday.

Rob Rose had 24 points, six rebounds, seven assists and five steals for Autauga (14-0), while Pharrell Banks and AJ Perry each had 13 points. Banks added five assists, three rebounds and three steals and Perry had seven steals, five assists and four rebounds.

Montgomery Academy 55, Prattville Christian Academy 50

Montgomery Academy trailed Prattville Christian by five points at the half after managing just four points in the second quarter, but a strong second-half performance by freshman DJ Vinson rallied the Eagles to a 55-50 win at Joe Mooty Court on Tuesday night.

Vinson recorded a double double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, followed by Jamal Cooper with 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. 

Montgomery Academy (7-8) finished 3A Area 6 play with a 4-2 record and will be the second seed in the upcoming area tournament at Catholic on Feb. 10. The Eagles remain home on Friday against St. James. 

Conner Williams led the Panthers (8-17) with 19 points and five rebounds, followed by Cade Segars with 14 points, six rebounds and six assists, Camron Coleman with 10 points and four rebounds and Brady Roberson with four points and five rebounds. Carson Roberson and PJ Evans each grabbed four rebounds. 

PCA dropped to 1-5 in area play and will flip a coin with Trinity, also 1-5, to determine the third and fourth seeds in the area. The Panthers will travel to play Alabama Christian on Thursday.

GIRLS

Pike Road 53, Tallassee 5

Every player scored for Pike Road, led by Jazz Johnson’s 15 points, as the Patriots breezed past the Tigers on Tuesday, setting up Friday’s Area 5 showdown at Brew Tech. 

Pike Road (16-7) improved to 4-1 in area play and can tie the Rams for first place in 5A Area 5 with a win on Friday. 

Hooper Academy 49, Autauga Academy 18

PRATTVILLE -- Freshman Kaylee Midkiff scored 11 points to lead the Colts to a Class AA Region 1 Area 2 win on Tuesday. Victoria Hagemann and Grace Seale each added nine points for Hooper.

“I thought we came out strong and built a solid lead,” Hooper coach Buzz Phillips said. “This was a huge region win for us. It gives us the opportunity to host the first round of the state tournament if we take care of business on Thursday.”

Hooper (12-10) plays at Cornerstone Christian on Thursday. The Colts (3-2 in area play) can wrap up the second seed with a win and play host to Macon East Academy in the first round of the state tournament on Feb. 1. 

Chandler Henry led Autauga with nine points.

Prattville Christian 68, Montgomery Academy 25

Hannah Jones had 18 points and 11 rebounds to help the Panthers finish the area race unbeaten at 6-0 win a 68-25 win over Montgomery Academy at Joe Mooty Court on Tuesday. 

PCA (27-0) will play host to Wetumpka on Monday and will play two more games next week before returning home to host the Area 6 tournament on Feb. 9.

Ella Jane Connell added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Panthers, followed by CoCo Thomas with 12 points and eight rebounds, Jenna McClendon with eight points and four rebounds and Kayden Carr with seven points and four rebounds. Avery Rogers added six points and four assists, while Sarah Williams had three points and LB NeSmith grabbed six rebounds. 

Trinity 68, Catholic 52

Emma Kate Smith scored 19 points to go along with four assists and three steals in a 16-point win over the Knights in the Catholic gym on Tuesday night.

Maddie Smith had 19 points, five assists and five steals, followed by Mya Moskowitz with 14 points and seven rebounds and Mary Alice Sasser with eight points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Kaylee Peevy scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds. 

Trinity (20-5) finished as the second seed in the area at 4-2 and will play the third seed, either Catholic or Montgomery Academy, in the area tournament at Prattville Christian on Feb. 9. The Wildcats will travel to Montevallo on Friday.

Catholic (14-7) dropped to 1-4 in area play and will travel to Montgomery Academy (0-5) on Thursday to determine the third and fourth seeds in the area. 

Edgewood Academy 50, Cornerstone Christian 19

ELMORE -- Jaylyn Strength led a balanced attack with 12 points as the Wildcats completed their run through the area unbeaten at 6-0 as well as their home court at 13-0 with an easy win over the Chargers on Tuesday.

Edgewood won its ninth consecutive game by scoring 22 of the game’s 24 points in the first quarter. Kennedy Mensch had 11 points for Edgewood, Lindsey Brown added 10 and Molly Snow had eight.

Edgewood travels to Montgomery to play Evangel Christian on Thursday, then will resume play in the AISA state tournament on Feb. 9 at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.

Lakeside School 50, Macon East Academy 24

The Lady Knights kept close for a quarter, but scored just one point in the second quarter and could not find enough offense to get back into the AA Region 1 Area 1 game in the Macon East gym.

Macon East, which won just its second game on Monday, fell to 0-3 in area play heading into the final area game at Lakeside on Thursday. Despite the finish, the Knights will qualify for state tournament play on Tuesday and will travel to second-seeded Hooper Academy in the first round of the AA state playoffs.

Maddie Ross led the Knights with 13 points and eight rebounds. Sydnie Phelps had just two points, but grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked two shots.

Eliza Erikson led Lakeside with 14 points, followed by Jayden Green with 12.