Nolan knocks ’em down

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: January 5, 2017

UPDATED
Thursday boys roundup: Sacred Heart guard nails 12 3-pointers in win at Spring Garden; Faith beats Donoho, Anniston holds off Munford, boxscores and more

Anniston’s Jakoey Bradford (15) works through Munford traffic to get to the basket. Bradford scored two big baskets in the fourth quarter to preserve the Bulldogs’ victory. (All photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)

Thursday’s Games
Anniston 52, Munford 43
Cedar Bluff 82, JCA 60
Clay Central 75, Sylacauga 67
Etowah 62, Alexandria 48
Hokes Bluff 54, Jacksonville 52
Faith Christian 55, Donoho 43
Homewood 59, Oxford 49
Ragland at Pleasant Valley
Sacred Heart 90, Spring Garden 50
Talladega 73, Cleburne County 36
Weaver 86, Piedmont 65
Lincoln def. Wellborn
Westbrook Christian 58, Glencoe 49
White Plains 58, Ohatchee 38

By Shannon Fagan
Special to East Alabama Sports Today

SPRING GARDEN – The first time Kevion Nolan played a game at Spring Garden he was a seventh grader just learning to develop his game. Thursday night, playing for the last time at Dale Welsh Gymnasium, the Sacred Heart senior guard certainly had a game to remember.

Nolan netted 12 3-pointers — seven in the first half – on his way to a game-high 44 points in leading the top-ranked Cardinals to a 90-50 thrashing of the No. 6 Panthers in a Class 1A Area 10 game.

“You can’t say enough about Kevion, with this his last game playing here (scoring) 44 points,” Cardinals coach Ralph Graves said. “He works hard. It doesn’t surprise me.”

Even Spring Garden coach Ricky Austin was in awe of the performance.

“He was fun to watch; I hate that it was against us,” Austin said. “It’s almost as fun as watching (Golden State’s Steph) Curry do some of his stuff. He’s a talent. They’ve got several talents, but that was special what he did tonight.

“I didn’t think it was bad defense. We were defending him pretty well. He has great reach on his shot and good elevation. A guy gets in a zone like that it’s tough. If it hadn’t have been him, it would have been somebody else on their team. It just so happened to be him tonight. I thought his teammates did a great job of getting him the ball. He was in that zone.”

Nolan made his presence felt early, connecting on his first trey just a minute into the game. He scored Sacred Heart’s first 12 points – all on 3s — and finished with quarter with 17 points.

Spring Garden (8-6, 3-2) did its best to match Nolan and the Cardinals (15-7, 6-0). The Panthers played them even in the first quarter as Joe Rogers hit four of his five 3s in the period, but they just couldn’t keep up the pace.

Sacred Heart went on a 23-9 run in the second quarter to take a 44-30 lead at halftime. The lead swelled to 67-43 at the end of three quarters.

“I think that pace favored us because we played back and forth,” Graves said. “A lot of that was playing off adrenaline. Once the game settled in, we came out and executed and defended really well. I can’t say enough about how good our kids are.”

Thursday’s game was eagerly anticipated in the wake of events at the end of their Dec. 2 game in Anniston. That game, a 70-34 Heart win, was marred at the end by a hard Spring Garden foul on Nolan. Five Sacred Heart players left the bench following the foul and were suspended by the Alabama High School Athletic Association for what wound up being six games.

The rematch had some physical moments, but both teams kept their cool. Graves had no comment about cooler heads prevailing as the Cardinals quickly left the gym, but Austin did.

“It was kind of blown out of proportion the first round; I think it’s calmed down,” Austin said. “From our standpoint, it was just another game for us. I wanted our kids to show up with the same intensity we had down there. We showed up with great intensity, but I was afraid we might not based on what happened.

“We talked about that. I hate what happened down there, but it was by far from being a fight and a slugfest like I think some people perceived it. I think some people showed up tonight based on what happened there, thinking this was going to be a brawl. I just saw two teams competing hard. We had a couple of flagrant fouls called tonight, but I think that was the referees doing an outstanding job early trying to control the tempo of the game. I appreciate that. They did a great job.”

Faith Christian’s Jordan Griswould gets ready to make his move to the basket against Donoho’s Jack Svensen. Griswould scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the area victory. (Photo by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)

Lions get big area win over Donoho

Jordan Griswould came out red-hot and never let up, pouring in 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds as Faith Christian knocked off area rival Donoho 55-43 in a game with tournament seeding implications.

“We needed this win tonight and have got another big one at JCA on Tuesday night,” Faith coach Brad Yarbrough said. “A win there will put us in good shape to finish in the 2 or 3 spot in the area.”

The Lions (5-10), like all the challengers in their area, are trying to avoid finishing in the 4 or 5 spot that would have them playing for their playoff lives for the right to meet top-seeded No. 1 Sacred Heart.

The Lions jumped out to a 16-6 lead in the first quarter, but Donoho chopped the deficit to 16-14 in the second quarter after an eight-point run. The Falcons (2-13) were down 24-19 at the half.

Griswold opened the second half with five straight points and the Lions maintained a 10-15 point lead the rest of the way. Riley Camp chipped in with 11 points for the Lions.

“We came out with great intensity and did a very good job of following the game plan,” Yarbrough said.

Jacob Lecroy got hot for the Falcons in the fourth quarter and ended with three 3-pointers and a total of 16 points. Will Nelson added 10 points for Donoho.

“We tried to stay focused all the way to the end and thought we did a pretty good job of doing that,” Yarbrough said. “The rivalry with Donoho is good for us. Our kids had a lot of fun with it all day. They really enjoyed it. I had a good rivalry when I was in school (at Cleburne County), so I am glad they can experience that.” – Brant Locklier

Donoho’s Jacob Lecroy (5) drives past Faith’s Riley Camp. Lecroy led the Falcons with 16 points.

Anniston’s got ‘milk,’ uses it to beat Munford

Senior Jakoey (Milk) Bradford converted passes from Marrio Dobbins into layups on consecutive possessions late in the fourth quarter to extend Anniston’s lead in an eventual 52-43 area victory over Munford.

Bradford and Dobbins each scored 12 points for the Bulldogs (10-7, 2-1), who were installed as the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Calhoun County Tournament on Wednesday. Joetavius Embry added 10 points.

“In our games over the Christmas break he probably averaged 20 a game,” Anniston coach Torry Brown said of Bradford. “He’s only played one semester his first three years of high school (the second semester of his sophomore year). I think early on he was adjusting to the speed of the game, but the game has slowed down for him and he’s able to pick and choose his spots.”

The game was supposed to open a stretch of three games in three days, but the threat of inclement weather forced a postponement of today’s area game at Handley and Saturday’s game with Huffman. No makeup dates have been announced.

Marrio Dobbins had both of the assists on Jakoey Bradford’s baskets in the fourth quarter that extended Anniston’s lead.

THURSDAY’S BOYS BOX SCORES
Hokes Bluff 54, Jacksonville 52
HOKES BLUFF – Landon Johnson 7-12 10-14 24, Jace Stewart 3-5 1-2 9, Adam Patterson 2-5 3-8 7, Fisher Simmons 1-5 2-2 4, Jeremy Black 1-2 1-2 3, Brayden Hill 1-3 1-2 3, Peyton Moore 1-1 0-2 2, Donovan Greaves 1-2 0-0 2, Alex Cashman 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Harp 0-1 0-0 0, Riley Payton 0-0 0-0 0, Hayden Lipscomb 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-37 18-32 54.

JACKSONVILLE (2-11) – Rivan Hill 6-14 5-9 18, DeAndre McCain 5-7 0-0 12, Ale Davis 3-4 1-3 7, Cade Landers 3-8 0-0 7, Tahj Kirkland 1-1 0-0 2, Alex Gilbert 1-5 0-0 2, Josh Glass 0-2 2-4 2, K.J. Satcher 1-3 0-1 2, Jesse Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Jay Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Jamir Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Vinson 0-0 0-0 0, Ron Wiggins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 8-17 52.

Hokes Bluff 8 15 16 15 — 54
Jacksonville 11 14 10 17 — 52

3-point goals: Hokes Bluff 2-10 (Johnson 0-1, Stewart 2-4, Simmons 0-1, Hill 0-2, Greaves 0-1, Harp 0-1); Jacksonville 4-17 (Hill 1-7, McCain 2-3, Landers 1-4, Gilbert 0-1, Glass 0-2). Rebounds: Hokes Bluff 34 (Johnson 14); Jacksonville 25 (A. Davis 6, Hill 5). Fouled out: Lipscomb. Total fouls: Hokes Bluff 17, Jacksonville 24.

Faith Christian 55, Donoho 43
FAITH CHRISTIAN (5-10) – Michael McGraw 2 2-2 6, Riley Camp 4 2-3 11, Jordan Griswould 8 8-11 26, Ben Conley 0 0-0 0, Jameson Adams 0 0-0 0, Seth Cravens 1 0-0 3, Andrew Huie 0 0-0 0, Jacob Cleckler 0 0-0 0, Jack Sills 3 3-6 9, Michael Kulick 0 0-0 0, Dalton Rogers 0 0-0 0, Julien Key 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 15-22 55.

DONOHO (2-13) – Jason Howard 0 0-0 0, Jack Svensen 1 0-2 2, Garrett Steed 2 0-1 4, John Hutto 0 1-2 1, Jacob Lecroy 5 3-4 16, Mateen Ibrahim 0 0-0 0, Harrison Hughston 2 0-0 5, Ross Hagan 0 1-3 1, Joseph O’Neill 1 2-2 4, Saad Ibrahim 0 0-0 0, Seth Ford 0 0-0 0, Wilson Russell 0 0-0 0, Will Nelson 3 4-7 10. Totals 14 11-21 43.

Faith Christian 14 10 17 14 — 55
Donoho 6 13 7 17 — 43

3-point goals: Faith 4 (Camp, Griswould 2, Cravens); Donoho 4 (Lecroy 3, Hughston).

Sacred Heart 90, Spring Garden 50
SACRED HEART (15-7) – Jaylin Croft 0 0-0 0, Diante Wood 6 5-6 17, Jackson Dodson 0 0-0 0, Murdock Simmons 5 0-0 11, D.J. Heath 2 1-2 6, Caleb Lafollette 0 0-0 0, Dakota Myers 3 1-2 7, Stephen Stansil 2 0-0 5, JonRiley Miller 0 0-0 0, Kevion Nolan 15 2-3 44, Khalil Watkins 0 0-0 0, Zane Marion 0 0-0 0. Totals 33 9-13 90.

SPRING GARDEN (8-6) – Riley Austin 2 5-7 9, Dakota Lambert 2 2-3 6, Ben Ivey 0 0-0 0, Ashton Rogers 0 0-0 0, Dylan Rogers 6 0-0 14, Luke Ivey 0 0-0 0, Draeven Bowman 0 0-0 0, Joe Rogers 7 2-2 21, Avery Gowens 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 9-12 50.

Sacred Heart 21 23 23 23 — 90
Spring Garden 21 9 13 7 — 50

3-point goals: Sacred Heart 15 (Nolan 12, Stancil, Heath, Simmons); Spring Garden 7 (D. Rogers 2, J. Rogers 5). Total fouls: Sacred Heart 14, Spring Garden 12. Officials: Gilbert, Cosby, Allen.

White Plains 58, Ohatchee 38
WHITE PLAINS (11-5) – Jaylen Jackson 1 0-0 2, Peyton Morgan 0 0-0 0, Dylan McCareeth 2 0-0 4, Justin Foster 0 0-0 0, Austin Bussey 0 0-0 0, Andrew McCarter 0 0-0 0, Michael McGuirk 9 4-4 26, Drake Preston 0 0-0 0, Macy Carr 6 1-2 13, Gavin Burrage 2 0-0 5, Brett Beaver 3 2-2 8. Totals 23 7-7 58.

OHATCHEE (5-11) – Blake Buckelew 2 0-0 5, Ben Glass 0 0-0 0, Grayson Alward 1 0-0 2, Carson Stone 0 0-0 0, Kevin Williamson 0 0-0 0, Domonique Thomas 0 0-0 0, Austin Tucker 7 4-7 19, Andrew Roberts 0 0-0 0, Bayley Tillison 0 0-2 0,Jordan Lowe 1 0-1 2, C.J. Ray 5 0-0 10. Totals 16 4-10 38.

White Plains 6 14 21 17 — 58
Ohatchee 2 11 11 14 — 38

3-point goals: White Plains 5 (McGuirk 4, Burrage); Ohatchee 2 (Buckelew, Tucker). Total fouls: White Plains 15, Ohatchee 8.

Etowah 62, Alexandria 48
ETOWAH – Andrew Noles 4 0-0 8, Jailyn Jackson 3 0-0 7, Trevon Caldwell 1 0-0 3, Cyrus Smith 4 1-2 9, Justin Harris 1 2-3 4, William Timms 5 0-0 14, Derickey Wright 0 0-0 0, Jamin Graham 4 1-2 9, Chris Jones 4 0-1 8. Totals 26 4-8 62.

ALEXANDRIA (13-5) – Devan Grant 2 0-2 6, Chase Smitherman 0 0-2 0, Austin Taylor 2 0-0 6, Jake Weathington 2 0-0 6, Dru Davis 0 0-0 0, Dalton Dodd 6 0-0 14, Romeo Dye 0 0-0 0, Thorne Thornton 1 0-0 3, Jamal Tucker 2 3-3 8, Josh Tucker 0 3-4 3, Landon Williams 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 6-11 48.

Etowah 15 20 17 10 — 62
Alexandria 12 11 9 16 — 48

3-point goals: Etowah 6 (Jackson, Caldwell, Timms 4); Alexandria 10 (Grant 2, Taylor 2, Weathington 2, Dodd 2, Thornton, Ja. Tucker). Total fouls: Etowah 16, Alexandria 11. Officials: Strong, Stringer, Johnson.

Clay Central 75, Sylacauga 67
CLAY CENTRAL – Devyn Flenord 7 2-4 18, Cole Burns 1 0-0 2, Ben Street 7 2-3 16, Jamal Williamson 1 0-0 2, Cameron Peoples 3 2-4 8, Shameri Simmons 1 0-0 3, Quon McKinney 3 4-6 10, LaShawn Simmons 0 0-0 0, Joe Bullock 7 2-2 16, Tae Franks 0 0-0 0, Garrett Yates 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 12-19 75.

SYLACAUGA – Malik Crawford 2 0-0 4, Zyion Hughes 0 0-0 0, Keaton Wilson 4 0-0 9, Darian Garrett 3 0-0 9, Jasade Smith 6 2-4 19, Khalil Pope 2 6-11 10, Luke Tankersley 0 0-0 0, Erron Bryant 2 0-0 4, Devantae Smith 0 0-0 0, Rod Millinar 0 0-0 0, Jordan Robinson 0 0-0 0, Derrick Carter 4 1-2 9, Dione Coleman 1 0-0 3. Totals 24 9-17 67.

Clay Central 12 16 19 28 — 75
Sylacauga 18 17 24 8 — 67

3-point goals: Clay Central 3 (Flenord 2, S. Simmons); Sylacauga 10 (Wilson, Garrett 3, J. Smith 5, Coleman). Total fouls: Clay Central 15, Sylacauga 20. Officials: Robinson, Holmes, Stringer. Notes: McKinney scored eight, Flenord seven and Street six in the decisive fourth quarter. Garrett and Smith each hit three 3s in the third quarter.

Talladega 73, Cleburne County 36
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Brock Swafford 1 0-0 3, Stashun Henson 1 1-2 4, Joel Brown 2 0-0 4, Avery Gentry 2 0-1 4, John Robinson 3 1-1 7, Caleb Brown 1 0-0 2, Isaac Brown 2 0-0 5, Will Morrow 0 0-0 0, Chad Brown 2 0-0 4, Noah Halloway 1 1-2 3. Totals 15 3-6 36.

TALLADEGA – Fred Dickerson 4 0-0 8, Tyrese Scales 1 2-2 4, Jarvius McKenzie 0 0-1 0, Ashton Duncan 6 1-2 14, Chrishawn Williams 3 1-3 8, TraShaundez Bolden 1 1-2 3, Robert Houston 2 1-2 5, Jamontae Twymon 3 1-2 7, Jae-lyn Russ 11 2-3 24. Totals 31 9-17 73.

Cleburne Co. 10 10 7 9 — 36
Talladega 14 30 26 3 — 73

3-point goals: Cleburne Co. 3 (Swafford, Henson, I. Brown); Talladega 2 (Duncan, Williams). Total fouls: Cleburne Co. 15, Talladega 9. Officials: Evans, Montgomery, Hunter. Notes: Talladega coach Chuck Miller scored his 699th career victory. He can get 700 at home Tuesday against Clay Central. Miller’s dad retired with 705 wins. Williams scored all eight of his points in the second quarter. Russ scored eight in the first, 10 in the third.