Smith at the buzzer — good
- Updated: January 17, 2015
FINAL UPDATE–‘Non-shooter’ beats buzzer twice in Saks’ County Boys Tournament rout
CALHOUN COUNTY BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
(All games at Pete Mathews Coliseum, Jacksonville)
First-round games
No. 8 Jacksonville 70, No. 9 Jacksonville Christian 38
No. 5 Saks 73, No. 12 Pleasant Valley 20
No. 4 Anniston 74, No. 13 Ohatchee 30
No. 3 Sacred Heart 70, No. 14 Donoho 29
No. 6 Oxford vs. No. 11 Faith Christian, Monday, 10:30 a.m.
No. 7 Weaver vs. No. 10 Piedmont, Monday, 1:30 p.m.
No. 2 White Plains vs. No. 15 Wellborn, Monday, 4:30 p.m.
Second-round games
No. 1 Alexandria vs. Jacksonville, Monday 7:30 p.m.
Saks vs. Anniston, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
Sacred Heart vs. Oxford-Faith winner, Wednesday, 5 p.m.
Weaver-Piedmont winner vs. White Plains-Wellborn winner, Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Semifinal games
Friday, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, 8:30 p.m.
Championship game
Saturday, 8 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE — The image is as timeless as the game itself. A solitary player is out in the driveway or on the playground working the dribble while counting down the final seconds to the end of some imaginary game, then launching and swishing a jumper just before throating a horn to signal the end of the game.
3 … 2 … 1 … Swish-h-h-h … Eerrrrrrnnnnttttt.
One can only hope to have it happen in a game.
Saks’ Quin Smith lived every shooter’s dream in the Wildcats’ 73-20 rout of Pleasant Valley in the opening round of the Calhoun County Boys Basketball Tournament Saturday – twice.
He nailed a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter to give the third-ranked and fifth-seeded Wildcats a 16-6 lead, and then he beat the buzzer with another 3 at the end of the half to extend the lead to 38-15. They were his only points of the game.
They might not have been as dramatic as a buzzer-beater to win a tight game – or the half-court shot he hit as a seventh-grader against White Plains – but beating the clock is always a special thrill. Even if it wasn’t expected.
“I was just trying to get an open shot,” he said. “I wanted to pass, I’m not a shooter – at all — but they passed to me the last couple seconds — I don’t know why — so I had to put it up. I was very happy they went in.”
Wildcats’ coach Jonathan Miller said the junior guard shouldn’t sell himself short as a shooter.
“Quin is not … confident (but) he can shoot the ball a little bit,” Miller said. “He’s got good rotation on the ball, he’s got good shooting form, he’s just not confident. It’s good for him to knock down a couple shots, but he probably would not have shot them unless the clock was running down. He can do that if we needed to.”
Like the Wildcats need another shooter. They hit 12 3-pointers in the blowout. Sweet stroke Quen Williams hit four and Jaylen Britt hit three. Davion Coleman can knock them down, too, but had only one in the game.
“I like to see our kids have success,” Miller said. “Quin has been a steady player for us all season. To see him hit those two big shots that helped extend the lead out when we were sleep-walking a little bit was good.”
The margin was the most lopsided among the four first-round boys games. The average margin among the boys was 42.5 points. All four winners scored at least 70.
Photo out front: Saks’ Quin Smith (4) sets up in his defensive posture during Saturday’s Calhoun County Tournament game with Pleasant Valley.
Reluctant shooter Hill emerging for Jax
Jacksonville coach Ryan Chambless has been searching all season for another element to complement the scoring duo that has been Cam Horton and Sid Thurmond. He may have found one it Saturday in Rivan Hill.
The sophomore guard who admits being a reluctant shooter hit six of nine shots from the floor, including two 3-pointers, for 14 points in the Golden Eagles’ 70-38 rout of Jacksonville Christian.
He was particularly sharp early as the Golden Eagles scored 22 points in a row against the JCA zone to open a 28-2 lead in the first meeting between the neighboring teams since 2006.
“I was just feeling it,” Hill said. “I haven’t been scoring a whole lot this year. I guess I was kind of tired of scoring four or five points a game, I might as well shoot and today I just took advantage of what I could when I got the ball. It makes me feel good to be up there with those guys.”
Horton scored 15 first-half points and finished with 19 for the game. Thurmond scored 18. The three of them were a combined 21 of 35 from the field.
“I think Rivan can step up as the third scorer we need,” Chambless said. “The last couple games he’s been playing pretty well. He’s had a couple games where he’s scored for us, but he’s becoming a more consistent player. I think he’s come along at the right time.”
The win over JCA sends the Golden Eagles to face top-seeded Alexandria Monday night. It will be a wounded bunch of Valley Cubs they’ll face, as Alexandria tries to find its way out of a late-game shooting funk that cost the last two games against Anniston and Saks.
“We’re probably getting a team that’s mad about losing and they’re going to want to win,” Chambless said. “We’ve got to be ready to play.” – Al Muskewitz
Jacksonville’s Rivan Hill (24) comes up on the play during the Golden Eagles’ game with JCA.
Anniston peaking at right time
Schuessler Ware is a cagey coach who always seems to have his team ready when it comes to mid-January. He’s also savvy enough not to stir the pot with a big game on the horizon.
When the fourth-seeded Bulldogs took out Ohatchee 74-30, it set up a highly anticipated second-round matchup with fifth-seeded Saks (18-2) Tuesday night.
If the way they did it is any indication, the Bulldogs (13-6) are putting the pieces together for a nice run.
“We always try to have our team ready by the county and area tournaments,” Ware said. “We are almost where we need to be. We lost a couple of kids early in the season, but have gotten back to where we need to be. We are excited about playing Saks and look forward to it. These type games are good for high school basketball in this area.”
Saks has won 10 in a row, while Anniston has won 6 in a row. Both streaks include wins over County Tournament top-seed Alexandria this week. – Brant Locklier
Sacred Heart about testing itself
At Sacred Heart it’s all about playing yourself as the small 1A school has set such a high standard for itself coach Ralph Graves has to look at his team differently than other coaches.
He continues to lead a team full of sophomore and freshman starters to amazing heights and they have their sights set on the Calhoun County Championship this week. Last year they lost in the finals to Anniston by just two points and this year they want more.
Saturday night the tournament hosts showed that determination by dismantling a tall and physical Donoho team 70-29. The Cardinals got it started right away with a resounding slam by Diante Wood off the jump.
”As a coach there are always things we can improve on and am never really satisfied,” Graves said. “I just hope our players are never satisfied and want to keep the work ethic and keep getting better.
“Tonight was a good win for us … We went 1-0 tonight and have to go 1-0 four times to win. That is all we tell the kids – we’ve just got to go 1-0 four times and we just finished the first one, so hopefully we can get a good game plan together and come out and play a real good game on Wednesday night.” – Brant Locklier
CALHOUN COUNTY BOYS TOURNAMENT BOX SCORES
Jacksonville 70, Jacksonville Christian 38
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN – Elijah McCormack 1-3 0-0 3, Walker Messer 1-9 1-2 3, Daylon Brackett 9-21 8-10 27, Jayden Mitchell 0-2 0-0 0, Kris Armprester 1-4 3-7 5, Reed Murphy 0-6 0-0 0, Jimbo Tolbert 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-46 12-19 38.
JACKSONVILE — Sid Thurmond 8-11 0-0 18, Ben Jaskowski 1-4 0-0 2, Taye Ackles 4-15 0-0 9, Cam Horton 7-15 3-5 19, Aaron Bragg 0-3 0-0 0, Martavious Long 2-5 1-2 5, Collin Casey 0-0 0-0 0, Zack Casey 0-3 0-0 0, K.J. Satcher 0-0 0-0 0, Tristan Yates 1-2 1-2 3, Rivan Hill 6-9 0-0 14, Casey Trull 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-68 5-9 70.
JCA 2 11 16 9 — 38
Jacksonville 18 20 23 9 — 70
3-point goals: JCA 2-19 (McCormack 1-3, Brackett 1-7, Messer 0-2, Mitchell 0-2, Murphy 0-5); Jacksonville 7-22 (Thurmond 2-3, Ackles 1-4, Horton 2-6, Hill 2-4, Bragg 0-2, Casey 0-3). Rebounds: JCA 36 (Brackett 9, Armprester 7); Jacksonville 44. Total fouls: JCA 7, Jacksonville 23. Technical fouls: Horton. Officials: Holmes, Evans, Lemon.
Saks 73, Pleasant Valley 20
PLEASANT VALLEY – Josh Preston 1 0-0 2, Kirklin Childs 2 0-0 4, Josh Faucett 1 0-2 2, Andy Brannon 2 0-0 4, Matthew Parker 0 0-0 0, Reid Hightower 1 1-2 4, Chase Craven 2 0-2 4. Totals 9 1-6 20.
SAKS — Makel Taylor 2 2-2 7, Darion Coleman 5 1-1 11, Devin Harris 3 1-1 8, Quin Smith 2 0-0 4, Jaylen Britt 4 1-1 12, Davieuntae Booker 2 2-2 6, Mony Young 0 2-4 2, Quen Williams 5 1-1 15, Quay McCord 0 1-1 1, Demetrius Powell 2 0-0 4. Totals 25 11-13.
Pleasant Valley 6 9 4 1 — 20
Saks 16 22 22 13 — 73
3-point goals: PV 1 (Hightower); Saks 12 (Taylor, Coleman, Harris, Smith 2, Britt 3, Williams 4). Total fouls: PV 17, Saks 10. Fouled out: Childs. Officials: Holmes, Roberts, Lemon.
Anniston 74, Ohatchee 30
OHATCHEE – Dylan Yates 0 0-0 0, Ben Glass 4 0-0 11, Micah Lee 1 0-1 2, John Noel 1 0-0 3, Owen Hale 1 0-0 2, Austin Tucker 2 3-4 7, Brian Jennings 1 1-23, Tristan Woodall 0 0-0 0, C.J. Ray 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 4-7 30.
ANNISTON – Marrio Dobbins 1 0-0 2, Tray Croft 7 0-0 17, Hakeem Ross 3 2-2 8, Darion Tippins 4 1-2 8, Tae Miller 3 2-2 9, DeQuan Ross 3 1-2 6, Quindarious Burton 3 0-0 6, Justin Bagley 1 2-3 5, Emmanuel James 3 0-0 6, Trevonta Carter 3 0-2 6, Cardarious Storey 0 0-0 0. Totals 31 8-13 74.
Ohatchee 6 8 7 9 — 30
Anniston 27 15 18 14 — 74
3-point goals: Ohatchee 4 (Glass 3, Noel); Anniston (Croft 3, Miller). Total fouls: Ohatchee 12, Anniston 10. Officials: Stringer, Whiteside, Montgomery.
Sacred Heart 70, Donoho 29
DONOHO — Dylan Dunaway 0 0-0 0, Bret Holmes 1 0-1 3, Garrett Steed 0 0-0 0, Ross Svensen 0 0-0 0, Schuyler Buckner 2 1-1 5, Tucker Sedmak 0 0-0 0, Ross Hagan 1 1-2 4, Axis Heathcock 1 1-2 3, Robert Clausen 1 3-4 5, Parker Morgan 1 0-0 3, Mateen Ibrahim 0 0-0 0, Justin Foster 1 2-6 4, Wilson Russell 1 0-0 2. Totals 9 8-16 29.
SACRED HEART — Diante Wood 6 3-4 15, Kavarri Ross 6 0-0 13, Sam Miller 3 4-4 10, D.J. Heath 4 1-2 9, Caleb Lafollette 0 0-0 0, Bradley Mayfield 0 0-0 0, Keith Orlowski 0 0-0 0, Kevion Nolan 9 1-2 23, Tucker Norman 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 9-12 70.
Donoho 5 10 5 9 — 29
Sacred Heart 18 19 18 15 — 70
3-point goals: Donoho 3 (Morgan, Hagan, Holmes); Sacred Heart 5 (Ross, Nolan 4). Total fouls: Donoho 12, Sacred Heart 14.
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