Saks solves Alexandria
- Updated: January 17, 2015
Boys roundup: Wildcats gain measure of revenge; White Plains, Faith win close games
By East Alabama Sports Today
What a difference three weeks makes.
Third-ranked Saks earned bragging rights up and down the 431 corridor and gained a measure of revenge for an earlier loss in beating Alexandria 66-59 in an intra-class game between ranked teams.
Right before Christmas, Alexandria beat Saks 71-62 in the championship game of the Riley Whitaker Classic in Gadsden. The Wildcats (17-2) waited that long to get their revenge.
“I think the biggest thing right before Christmas and now is we’re playing a little bit better,” Saks coach Jonathan Miller said. “I think the biggest difference (in the games) is we defended a little better tonight; we didn’t defend that great the first time. And we played a little better offense in that stretch in the fourth quarter.”
They certainly did a better job on Cubs guard Caleb Young, who torched them for 18 points in the first meeting. Young had only two points in this game. The Valley Cubs, ranked No. 10 in Class 5A, were led by Alton Davis’ 20 points.
And that stretch Miller talked about. It helped the Wildcats extend their lead to 60-42. Quen Williams and Jaylen Britt hit 3-pointers in the flurry and Davieuntae Booker made a basket off a nice pass from Darion Coleman.
Williams hit eight 3-pointers and finished with 25 points. The Cubs hit 11 3-pointers in the game.
“They had a little more energy; when you’re hitting your shots, it makes you play a little bit harder,” Alexandria coach Jason Johnson said. “They hit their shots and we didn’t hit as many as they did. We’re just struggling to shoot the ball right now. You’re going to go through those points every year and we’re in that little rut right now.”
Saks has a quick turnaround. The Wildcats play in today’s 1:30 p.m. game in the Calhoun County Tournament, where Johnson said “they may be the sleeper.” The Wildcats had a similarly quick turnaround earlier this year, beating White Plains and then Clay Central some 15 hours later.
“We do have a little experience with that, but we’ve played Thursday, Friday and now Saturday,” Miller said. “I do worry about our legs and expect us to be sluggish in the first quarter.”
White Plains 62, Jacksonville 61
WHITE PLAINS – The fourth-ranked Wildcats led by four with 20 seconds left and had the ball and had to hang on to avoid the upset.
It was 62-58 and the Wildcats turned it over while Jacksonville was trying to foul them to stop the clock. Cam Horton then hit what White Plains coach Chris Randall called the “best shot of the night” and made the and-one.
The Wildcats then missed three straight front ends of one-and-ones, but fortunately grabbed the offensive rebound each time.
“We were lucky to win,” Randall said.
The Golden Eagles presented White Plains with defensive problems. When the Wildcats didn’t get one the Jacksonville shooter, they got hurt with the 3. When they did challenge the shooter, they got beat off the dribble and fouled.
Jacksonville was 24 of 31 from the line in the game. Leading scorers Cam Horton and Sid Thurmond were a combined 22 of 27. Horton finished with 26 points and Thurmond 13. Rivan Hill added 12. Thurmond also had six rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Nathan Gilbert led White Plains with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Jerod Guthrie had 13 and Kevin Carr added 10. Guthrie also had eight assists.
The win allows the Wildcats to stay in the race to host the area championship. Their Jan. 27 date with Saks will decide it.
Faith Christian 80, Wellborn 79
Faith Christian rallied from 10 down with three minutes to play to win its Homecoming game.
Josiah McDaniel hit two free throws late in the game to put the Lions ahead by one and Jordan Montgomery hit one a few moments later to seal it.
Logan Williamson and Caleb McCord led the Lions with 23 and 22 points, respectively. Williamson was 8 of 22 from the field, while McCord was 7 of 15. Williamson had eight of his points in the fourth quarter and 15 in the second half.
McDaniel was 4-for-4 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. He also grabbed 12 rebounds in the game.
Wellborn’s Blake Hanson led all scorers with 33 points, while Jordan Montgomery had 20 and Corri Tignor 18.
BOYS BOX SCORES
Saks 66, Alexandria 59
SAKS — Makel Taylor 2 2-6 6, Darion Coleman 4 4-6 13, Devin Harris 1 0-0 2, Quin Smith 0 0-3 0, Jaylen Britt 2 0-0 5, Davieuntae Booker 1 0-0 2, Monty Young 5 0-1 10, Quen Williams 8 1-4 25, Demetrius Powell 1 0-2 3. Totals 24 7-22 66.
ALEXANDRIA — Chance Williams 1 0-0 3, Nick Porter 1 1-2 4, Riley Shaw 1 0-0 2, Alton Davis 8 4-10 20, Tyrelle Gay 4 4-6 12, Caleb Young 1 0-0 2, Ronnie Royal 1 1-2 3, Marcus Swink 1 0-0 2, Luke Tucker 0 3-4 3, Dakota Kelley 3 0-0 8. Totals 21 13-24 59.
Saks 11 22 18 15 — 66
Alexandria 14 16 10 19 — 59
3-point goals: Saks 11 (Williams 8, Coleman, Britt, Powell); Alexandria 4 (Williams, Porter, Kelley 2). Total fouls: Saks 23, Alexandria 20. Fouled out: Taylor, Harris. Officials: Stringer, Robinson, Baker.
White Plains 62, Jacksonville 61
JACKSONVILLE — Cam Horton 6-19 12-14 26, Sid Thurmond 1-10 10-13 13, Rivan Hill 5-8 0-0 12, Martavious Long 2-5 1-2 5, Taye Ackles 1-3 0-0 2, Casey Trull 1-2 0-0 2, Tristan Yates 0-0 1-2 1, Aaron Bragg 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Jaskowski 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 24-31 61.
WHITE PLAINS — Nathan Gilbert 9-12 3-5 21, Jerod Guthrie 4-10 2-2 13, Kevin Carr 4-7 0-0 10, Michael McGuirk 2-5 0-2 5, Lawrence Jackson 2-3 0-1 4, Murphy Doss 2-4 0-0 4, Eli Hightower 1-5 0-0 3, Dillon Greenwood 1-1 0-0 2, Jackson Guthrie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-47 5-10 62.
Jacksonville 15 16 18 12 — 61
White Plains 20 13 18 11 — 62
3-point goals: Jacksonville 5-18 (Horton 2-10, Thurmond 1-3, Hill 2-3, Ackles 0-2); White Plains 7-17 (Je. Guthrie 3-7, Carr 2-4, McGuirk 1-2, Hightower 1-4). Rebounds: Jacksonville 20 (Thurmond 6); White Plains 37 (Gilbert 12). Total fouls: Jacksonville 14, White Plains 17.
Faith Christian 80, Wellborn 79
WELLBORN — Alquinarious Parker 3 0-0 6, Kevin Mixon 1 0-1 2, Corri Tignor 7 4-5 18, Jordan Montgomery 8 0-0 20, Donte Miller 1 0-0 3, Quindarious Moore 0 0-2 0, Blake Hanson 13 2-2 33, Kendarious Weatherly 0 1-2 1. Totals 33 7-12 79.
FAITH CHRISTIAN — Ryan Crosby 2 1-2 7, Jordan Griswold 5 2-3 12, Logan Williamson 8 3-3 23, Caleb McCord 7 6-10 22, Jack Sills 2 0-0 4, Josiah McDaniel 3 4-4 10, Alex Taylor 2 0-0 4. Totals 29 16-22 80.
Wellborn 24 19 24 13 — 79
Faith Christian 24 18 22 18 — 80
3-point goals: Wellborn 10 (Montgomery 4, Miller, Hanson 5); Faith 8 (Crosby 2, Williamson 4, McCord 2). Total fouls: Wellborn 20, Faith 12. Officials: Pratt, Hollingsworth, Beard.
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