Tigers maul Munford
- Updated: December 4, 2014
FINAL: Talladega dominates matinee start to finish
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
MUNFORD — The lead was 13 and the other team hadn’t scored yet so the high-fliers on the Talladega basketball team figured it was time for the fun to begin.
Desmond Green came flying along the baseline, Josh Madden lifted a soft pass up around the goal and in an instant Green was there to slam it home.
There were a lot of plays like that Thursday as the Tigers overwhelmed Munford 61-35 in a Talladega County matinee.
The Tigers (6-1) slammed home four mostly spectacular dunks and attempted a lot more; they had seven blocked shots as well. The dunks were coming from all sides, even a potential alley-oop pass found its way into the basket before a pair of flying hands could throw it down.
Not to be outdone by Green’s early slam, both of Ohyja Garrett’s dunks were of the spectacular variety, especially the alley-opp from Garrett he threw down in the third quarter.
“When we have a fast break we like to end it with a big boom,” Garrett said. “It gets the fans motivated. It motivates the whole team so we can dominate and have fun.”
A lot of Tigers contributed to the one-sided win. Nine players scored, led by D’Angelo Scales’ 14 points.
Green had eight points, three assists and two steals. Madden had nine points and four steals. Garrett had eight points and Josh Wilson had 10 rebounds.
As much as the dunks looked like a regular part of the Tigers’ game, there are places where coach Chuck Miller doesn’t like to see it happen. Like when the players are in a crowd or in a tight game.
Miller likes a nice dunk as much as the next guy, but the thing he likes even better is good defense. The Tigers held Munford scoreless for the first 5:35 of the game and kept the Lions (0-2) off the scoreboard in the second quarter until 48.2 seconds before halftime.
“I thought our guys came out pretty intense and I thought our defense caused Munford some problems,” Miller said. “We’ve got a couple high fliers that if they’ll just let the game come to them they’ll get some dunks, but I’m more worried about how they play defense than all that.
“One of my sayings is don’t tell your parents that you got a dunk but I know you let your guy go by you three straight times. Our fast break starts with our defense.”
Logan Cooper led Munford (0-2) with 12 points — all on 3-pointers. He hit three in the fourth quarter. C.J. Chapman had 10.
Talladega 61, Munford 35
TALLADEGA (6-1) – Mario Echols 2 0-2 5, D’Angelo Scales 6 2-2 14, Calvin Allen 0 0-0 0, Jay Smoot 2 4-6 8, Desmond Green 4 0-0 8, Josh Madden 4 0-0 9, Oderrius Jemison 2 0-0 4, Ohyja Garrett 2 1-2 5, Antione Garrett 0 0-0 0, Kenderius Smith 0 0-0 0, Josh Wilson 0 0-1 0, Robert Houston 2 0-0 4, Khail Keith 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 7-13 61.
MUNFORD (0-2) – Cameron Turner 1 3-4 5, Q.T. Elston 2 1-2 5, Avery Harris 0 0-0 0, Kendrick Brown 0 0-0 0, Lary Ball 1 1-2 3, C.J. Chapman 4 1-3 10, Jon Best 0 0-0 0, Traie Lynch 0 0-0 0, Christian Caldwell 0 0-0 0, Logan Cooper 4 0-0 12. Totals 12 6-11 35.
Talladega 24 14 15 8 — 61
Munford 6 2 11 16 — 35
3-point goals: Talladega 2 (Echols, Madden); Munford 5 (Chapman, Cooper 4). Total fouls: Talladega 12, Munford 14.
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