Balance, defense driving Wellborn

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: December 10, 2014

Boys roundup: Includes White Plains, Alexandria, JCA, Talladega

By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today

The Wellborn Panthers are beginning to put things together and used a strong fourth quarter Tuesday night to overcome a Pleasant Valley pressing defense and post a 58-46 victory.

Panthers coach Beau Winn has four players who on any given night can get hot and carry the team. On this night, all four would post impressive performances and score in double figures.

Sophomore guards Blake Hanson and Jordan Montgomery scored 19 and 13 points, respectively; Hanson also had eight rebounds. Senior Landon Machristie had 13 points, seven rebounds and five steals, while senior Corri Tignor had 11 points and 16 rebounds.

“Tignor can really do it on the boards,” Winn said. “He likes to get down there and he really makes a difference for us down there. Montgomery and Hanson can shoot the 3. We gave Blake a hand tonight as he finally hit a couple of 3s after being like 0-for-25 on the season coming into tonight.”

Three of Machristie’s steals came in about a minute stretch after PV tied the game at 35 and led to seven points that helped the Panthers stretch the lead to 52-42 midway through the fourth quarter.

“Landon’s steals really got us going and helped us pull away,” Winn said. “Landon does so many good things for us.”

Wellborn jumped out 15-2 to start the game behind six points from Hanson. PV scored the last seven points of the quarter to chop the margin to 15-9. Matthew Parker scored nine second-quarter points to draw the Raiders even at 26 before Montgomery drilled a 3 to give Wellborn a 29-26 halftime lead.

Parker led the Raiders with 12 points.

The Panthers led 43-40 going into the fourth quarter after PV’s Dakota Jones hit a 3 at the buzzer.

“Pleasant Valley really scrapped out there tonight, they gave us fits with that press,” Winn said.

White Plains 76, Ranburne 44

WHITE PLAINS — Kevin Carr and Eli Hightower each scored 10 points and got them all in the middle two quarters as the Wildcats pulled away from a tied game.

The teams played to an 18-all tie in the first quarter before the Wildcats (7-2) took control. They outscored the Bulldogs 22-5 in the second and 45-17 over the two middle quarters.

White Plains’ Nathan Gilbert scored all of his game-high 15 points in the first half, while Murphy Doss scored 10 of his 12 in the second half.

Alexandria 74, St. Clair County 53

ALEXANDRIA – It was raining 3s in Alexandria; the Valley Cubs used them to open a big lead and St. Clair County used them to try to keep it respectable.

The Valley Cubs hit six of their nine 3-pointers in the first half to open a 49-18 halftime lead. St. Clair County hit nine of its 12 in the second half and finished with more 3-pointers than 2s in the game.

Ten of the 13 Alexandria players who made it in the game scored. Nick Porter led the way with 15 points, while Dakota Kelley had 12. St. Clair County’s Hakeem Davis hit five 3-pointers in the game and led all scorers with 21 points.

Jacksonville Christian 68, Gaylesville 49

JACKSONVILLE – Walker Messer scored 27 points, Kris Armprester posted a double-double and Jayden Mitchell came close as the Thunder scored its first victory of the season.

Armprester scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Mitchell had nine points and nine boards. Daylon Brackett added 14 points to the cause.

C.J. Wilkerson led Gaylesville with 15 points.

Shelby County 85, Talladega 78

TALLADEGA – David Watkins led five Shelby County scorers in double figures with scored 30 points, hitting 18 of 23 from the free throw line, and his team held on after the Tigers got within two with 1:30 to play.

Nick Youngblood added 17 points, including 7 of 7 from the line, and Justus Martin had 15. The Wildcats hit 33 of 42 free throws in the game.

Josh Madden scored 23 points for Talladega, hitting five 3-pointers – four in the first half. D’Angelo Scales had 19 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Robert Houston scored 10.

Wellborn 58, Pleasant Valley 46

PLEASANT VALLEY — Josh Preston 4 0-0 9, Dakota Jones 2 0-0 5, Kirklin Childs 3 1-2 7, Marshall Smith 1 0-0 2, Josh Faucett 1 0-0 2, Seth Kirk 1 0-0 2, Nick Robbins 0 0-0 0, Andy Bramon 2 1-2 5, Matthew Parker 4 4-7 12, Chase Craven 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 6-11 46.

WELLBORN – Kevin Mixon 0 0-0 0, Corri Tignor 3 5-7 11, Landon Machristie 6 1-3 13, Jordan Montgomery 4 1-4 12, Dontavious Miller 0 0-0 0, Blake Hanson 5 7-9 19, Aaron Parker 1 1-1 3. Totals 19 15-24 58.

Pleasant Valley 9 17 14 6 — 46
Wellborn 15 14 14 15 — 58

3-point goals: Pleasant Valley 2 (Preston, Jones); Wellborn 5 (Montgomery 3, Hanson 2).

White Plains 76, Ranburne 44

RANBURNE – Theodore Smith 5 0-2 12, Levi Gosdin 0 0-0 0, Dylan Wiggins 4 0-0 10, Kyle Lovvern 4 1-2 10, Brayden Wilson 2 1-8 5, Logan Brown 0 0-0 0, Logan Sibley 1 0-0 2, Asa Fordham 1 0-0 2, Tristen Hartley 0 0-0 0, Trenton Williams 0 0-1 0, Blake Young 1 2-2 4. Totals 18 4-15 44.

WHITE PLAINS — Jerod Guthrie 4 1-1 10, Dillon Greenwood 1 1-4 3, Jake Montgomery 0 1-2 1, Kevin Carr 4 1-1 10, Eli Hightower 4 0-0 10, Michael McGuirk 3 2-2 8, Jackson Guthrie 1 3-4 5, Quez Wyatt 0 0-0 0, Lawrence Jackson 1 0-1 2, Nathan Gilbert 6 3-8 15, Murphy Doss 6 0-0 12. Totals 30 12-23 76.

Ranburne 18 5 12 9 — 44
White Plains 18 22 23 13 — 76

3-point goals: Ranburne 4 (Smith 2, Wiggins, Lovvern); White Plains 4 (Je. Guthrie, Carr, Hightower 2). Total fouls: Ranburne 19, White Plains 17. Fouled out: Sibley, Doss.

Alexandria 74, St. Clair County 53

ST. CLAIR COUNTY — Kelvin Johnson 2 0-0 6, Chris McCugh 1 0-0 3, Hakeem Davis 8 0-0 21, Armond Brasfield 1 0-3 2, Mason Anderson 5 0-1 14, Justin May 2 0-2 4, Leslie Patton 0 1-2 1, Willie Buckhannon 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 1-8 53.

ALEXANDRIA – Chase Williams 3 0-0 9, Austin Wells 0 1-2 1, Nick Porter 4 5-6 15, Cole Nail 0 0-0 0, Riley Shaw 2 0-0 5, Kevin Swink 0 0-0 0, Alton Davis 3 0-1 6, Tyrelle Gay 2 0-0 4, Caleb Young 3 2-2 8, Ronnie Royal 0 0-0 0, Marcus Swink 2 3-3 7, Luke Tucker 3 0-0 7, Dakota Kelley 4 2-2 12. Totals 26 13-16 74.

St. Clair County 8 10 13 22 — 53
Alexandria 25 24 21 4 — 74

3-point goals: St. Clair County 12 (Johnson 2, McCugh, Davis 5, Anderson 4); Alexandria 9 (Williams 3, Porter 2, Shaw, Tucker, Kelley 2). Total fouls: St. Clair County 13, Alexandria 12.

Shelby County 85, Talladega 78

SHELBY COUNTY – Justus Martin 4 3-4 15, Nick Youngblood 4 7-7 17, Cole Pate 0 0-0 0, Quinterious Montgomery 4 1-2 10, Vernon Cunningham, Deon Carter 1 0-0 2, Brandon Green 3 4-6 11, David Watkins 6 18-23 30. Totals 22 33-42 85.

TALLADEGA — D’Angelo Scales 5 7-9 19, Jay Smoot 1 2-6 4, Desmond Green 3 0-3 7, Josh Madden 8 2-4 23, Ohyja Garrett 4 0-0 8, Kenderius Smith 0 0-0 0, Josh Wilson 3 1-4 7, Robert Houston 5 0-2 10. Totals 29 12-28.

Shelby County 23 18 21 23 — 85
Talladega 14 20 20 24 — 78

3-point goals: Shelby County 8 (Martin 4, Youngblood 2, Montgomery, B. Green); Talladega 8 (Scales 2, D. Green, Madden 5). Total fouls: Shelby County 23, Talladega 26. Fouled out: Montgomery, B. Green, D. Green, Madden.

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