New kid on the block
- Updated: November 21, 2017
Newest Lion ties school scoring record in only his second varsity game; White Plains reaches Lincoln final for third year in a row; J’ville wins at buzzer, Talladega in Chelsea final
Lincoln Thanksgiving Tournament
Tuesday’s games
Westbrook Christian 65, Pleasant Valley 42
Faith Christian 63, Horseshoe Bend 53
White Plains 53, Etowah 46
Pell City 65, Lincoln 49
Wednesday’s games
Pleasant Valley vs. Horseshoe Bend, 10 a.m.
Faith Christian vs. Westbrook Christian, 11:30 a.m.
Etowah vs. Lincoln, 1 p.m.
Championship game: White Plains vs. Pell City, 2:30 p.m.
North Shelby County Tournament
Talladega 56, Chelsea 34
N2Hoops Invitational
Canton (Miss.) 60, Oxford 42
Ashville Thanksgiving Tournament
Jacksonville 61, Ashville 58
Regular season
Appalachian 57, JCA 51
Sacred Heart 102, Donoho 42
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
LINCOLN – Justin Kisor was sweeping the gym floor one day this summer shortly after being hired as Faith Christian’s athletics director, basketball and volleyball coach when he heard this disembodied voice calling to him from the other side of the room.
It wasn’t the voice of God, but the message it carried was indeed a godsend to the Lions’ basketball program.
“Are you coach?” the voice asked.
When Kisor turned around there stood Malcolm Carlisle and his dad, and they were looking for a life-changing opportunity. As they say in the movies, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Carlisle completed his transfer from Saks earlier this week and had what can only be described as his varsity coming out party Tuesday, tying the school record with 39 points and leading the Lions to a 63-53 victory over Horseshoe Bend in the Lincoln Thanksgiving Tournament.
“The gym was a mess and I was just sweeping and I hear, ‘Are you the coach?’” Kisor recalled. “I was like, who’s that? God? I didn’t know who was there. They walked in and I met them and it went from there.”
Carlisle, a ninth-grader, played on the Saks B team each of the last two years, but was looking for a change to improve his academics and circle of friends. He considered but discounted Donoho as “not a basketball school” and Sacred Heart as “too cocky.”
Kisor was concerned that Carlisle find a place that would make him happiest whether it was his school or not and there was just something at Faith that resonated with him. The next time Kisor saw him Carlisle was in the office registering for school.
The Lions could use his help. Even at his young age he will provide a much-needed offensive spark comparable to that of Jordan Griswould, Caleb McCord and any of their most dynamic scorers in recent memory.
He scored 17 in his delayed varsity debut Monday against Etowah and had almost that many in the first half against the Generals.
“We need that offense, we struggle to score,” Kisor said. “We’re hoping him and Mike (McGraw), our point guard, can get going. Malcolm’s a great shooter and he’s a good scorer. The good thing about him is if you want to cut down on his 3 he can drive on you.”
Carlisle scored all kinds of ways against Horseshoe Bend. He had six 3-pointers in the second and third quarters when he scored 26 points and he went hard to the basket in the fourth quarter as the Lions were trying to hold off the Generals’ rally.
The Lions led by 12 entering the fourth quarter, but the Generals cut it to three with less than four minutes to play. Carlisle hit a free throw and then stole the ball in the backcourt and converted it into a layup to push the lead back to six. He scored their last six points of the game.
Griswould scored 39 in a game against Wellborn two years ago and McCord scored 39 in a holiday tournament game against Ohatchee the year before.
“It just felt like nobody could stop me,” Carlisle said. “I felt good. I came out there and knew we had a job to do and I wanted to bring a win to the team. I knew it was coming, I just had to wait on it.”
White Plains reaches finals again
Chris Randall can never remember winning a game making only one field goal in the second half, but that’s exactly what his White Plains boys team did in holding off Etowah 53-46 to reach the finals of the Lincoln Thanksgiving Tournament for the third year in a row.
Houston Conger’s 3-pointer at the buzzer capped a big second quarter that gave White Plains a 34-17 halftime lead over the football-depleted Blue Devils, but the Wildcats didn’t get another field goal until Matthew Clay’s layup with 1:46 to play. The Wildcats were 17 for 29 from the free throw line in the half, 15 of 23 until the final minute.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Etowah; their defense was much better in the second half,” Randall said. “They zoned us in the first half and knocked down a bunch of open 3s. We didn’t say don’t shoot it; we just didn’t get good looks. We wanted to attack and get good looks, but every pass was a fight, every catch was a fight.
“But we guarded them, too, now. You can’t win a game with one bucket in the second half if you’re not guarding them back.”
The Wildcats will play Pell City in Wednesday’s 2:30 p.m. championship game seeking an elusive title.
“We’ve lost the last two,” Randall said. “We’d like to get one.”
Pell City reached the final by beating hosting Lincoln 65-49 behind a barrage of 10 3-pointers. Tyler Dowdy had half of them.
Davis’ jumper beats buzzer, Ashville
Jacksonville 61, Ashville 58: Jay Davis hit the game-winner at the buzzer to lift the Golden Eagles past the host team and into the finals of the Ashville Thanksgiving Tournament. Jacksonville rallied from a 20-5 first-quarter deficit with a 28-point second quarter to grab a 33-27 halftime lead. Davis finished with 10 points and was one of four Golden Eagles scoring in double figures. Chris Sanders had 22 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs. Jacksonville will play Vincent for the tournament title Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Duncan reaches milestone, Tigers play for title
Talladega 56, Chelsea 34 Talladega senior Ashton Duncan scored a game-high 16 points, including one of the Tigers’ eight 3-pointers to pass 1,000 career points midway through the fourth quarter, sending his team to play for North Shelby County Thanksgiving Tournament title.
Fred Dickerson filled up the box score with 10 points, five assists and three steals. Chaztin Tanner threw in 15 points and Kobe Simmons grabbed nine rebounds. Duncan now has 1,002 career points. The Tigers will play Albertville at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday for the title.
TUESDAY NIGHT BOX SCORES
Faith Christian 63, Horseshoe Bend 53
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Malcolm Carlisle 13 7-11 39, Michael McGraw 6 5-6 18, Seth Cravens 0 1-3 1, Stone Huie 0 0-0 0, Bailey Thomas 1 0-2 2, Josh Rutledge 0 0-1 0, Jacques Prater 0 0-0 0, Banks Cotton 0 0-0 0, Beau Conley 0 0-0 0 Jacob Cleckler 1 0-3 2, Dalton Rogers 0 1-2 1. Totals 21 14-28 63.
HORSESHOE BEND – Nalijah Heard 3 3-6 11, Logan Branch 1 3-4 5, Nywanski Russell 3 0-0 6, Chandler Lewis 1 2-2 4, Amos Jones 1 0-0 3, Colby Cheaney 2 1-3 5, David Norrell 1 0-0 2, Trace Meadows 1 1-3 3, Kamden Evers 2 0-0 6, Cade Worthy 2 2-3 8. Totals 17 12-21 53.
Faith Christian 12 23 15 13 — 63
Horseshoe Bend 9 20 9 15 — 53
3-point goals: Faith 7 (Carlisle 6, McGraw); Horseshoe Bend 7 (Heard 2, Jones, Evers 2, Worthy 2). Fouled out: Cravens, Cheaney, Meadows. Total fouls: Faith 20, Horseshoe Bend 25. Officials: Killingsworth, Weeks, Buckner.
White Plains 53, Etowah 46
WHITE PLAINS – Coleman Messer 2 2-2 6, Houston Conger 3 2-6 11, Chase Helms 2 1-3 6, Pierson Branham 2 0-0 4, Austin Bussey 0 0-0 0, Drake Preston 0 0-2 0, Matthew Clay 3 10-11 18, Jaden Harris 0 0-0 0, Ethan Bozarth 0 0-0 0, Gavin Burrage 1 6-10 8. Totals 13 21-34 53.
ETOWAH – Alec Timmons 2 2-6 7, Jaylee Johnson 1 2-4 5, Taylor Berry 5 5-6 18, Chris Griffin 1 0-0 3, Jaelin Jackson 1 2-5 4, Bray Thompson 0 0-0 0, Trent Davis 0 2-2 2, Payton 0 0-0 0, Alex Argo 1 0-0 3, Dakota Fanning 1 2-2 4, Jacob Bartlett 0 0-0 0, RayJohn Elston. 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 15-24 46
White Plains 12 22 9 10 — 53
Etowah 10 7 11 18 — 46
3-point goals: White Plains 6 (Conger 3, Helms, Clay 2); Etowah (Johnson); Etowah 7 (Timmons, Johnson, T. Berry 3, Griffin, Argo). Fouled out: Clay, Johnson, Griffin, Jackson, Davis, Total fouls: White Plains 20, Etowah 32.
Pell City 65, Lincoln 49
PELL CITY – Jacob Albritton 2 0-1 5, Tyler Dowdy 5 1-2 16, Romero Evans 4 1-2 12, Cody Williams 1 0-0 2, Andrew Pender 2 0-0 5, Jacob Hall 0 0-2 0, Maleek Robinson 0 0-0 0, Logan Estell 1 2-4 4, Jabriel Beckett 5 4-6 14, C. O’Neal 0 1-2 1, Quinton Burkhalter 2 2-3 6, Tyler Locklar 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 11-20 65.
LINCOLN – Javion Surles 4 5-7 13, Joseph Gaston 2 1-2 5, Tre Garrett 2 3-8 7, Connor Thomas 0 0-1 0, Earl Wells 4 5-13 13, Zay Ragland 1 0-0 2, Teddy Hall 0 1-2 1, Jack Wood 1 0-0 2, Shawn Davis 2 0-0 4, Josh Jackson 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 15-34 49.
Pell City 18 18 8 21 — 65
Lincoln 13 8 11 17 — 49
3-point goals: Pell City 10 (Albritton, Dowdy 5, Evans 3, Ponder). Fouled out: Jackson, Burkhalter. Total fouls: Pell City 24, Lincoln 19, Officials: Aaron Kelly, Amado Ortiz, Seth Barber,
Ashville Thanksgiving Tournament
Jacksonville 61, Ashville 58
JACKSONVILLE – Donovan McCain 5-9 2-2 12, DeDarien Savage 5-9 1-2 11, Jay Davis 4-8 0-0 10, DeAndre McCain 4-6 2-2 10, DeMarien Stewart 3-5 3-3 9, Alex Gilbert 3-9 1-1 7, Jacob Tucker 1-4 0-0 2, Jacob McCarley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-50 9-10 61.
ASHVILLE – Chris Sanders 10-12 1-4 22, D’Angelo Williams 7-8 1-2 16, Perkins Carden 2-3 0-0 6, John-Michael Norris 2-3 0-0 5, Ty Armstrong 2-2 0-0 4, DeAndre Woods 1-3 0-0 3, Dalton Cone 1-4 0-0 2, Nathan Phillips 0 0-0 0, AJ Lopano 0 0-0 0, John Redden 0-0 0-0 0, Cesar Segura 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-35 2-6 58.
Jacksonville 5 28 15 13 — 61
Ashville 20 7 13 18 — 58
3-point goals: Jacksonville 2-10 (Davis 2-4, McCain 0-2, Stewart 0-1, Gilbert 0-3);
Ashville 6-12 (Sanders 1-2, Williams 1-1, Carden 2-3, Norris 1-2, Woods 1-2, Cone 0-2). Rebounds: Jacksonville 22 (Stewart 6, Gilbert 5); Ashville 19 (Sanders 9). Total fouls: Jacksonville 12, Ashville 13.
North Shelby County Tournament
Talladega 56, Chelsea 34
TALLADEGA – Fred Dickerson 2 4-6 10, Champ Beavers 0 0-0 0, Chaztin Tanner 6 0-0 15, Tyrese Scales 0 1-2 1, Ashton Duncan 6 2-3 16, Patterson 1 5-7 7, J.Q. Wilson 1 0-0 2, Kobe Simmons 3 0-1 5, TraShaundez Bolden 0 0-4 0. Totals 18 12-23 56.
CHELSEA – Michael Gibbs 0 1-2 1, Matt Lenzi 3 3-5 9, Robert Marquet 0 0-0 0, Sam Towery 4 2-3 11, Nyles Mason 0 0-0 0, Cole Glandon 0 0-2 0, Tyler Coleman 0 4-4 4, Jonah Moore 1 0-2 2, Daniel Washington 1 2-8 4, Josh Hanna 1 1-2 3. Totals 10 13-28 34.
Talladega 13 11 14 18 — 56
Chelsea 9 10 4 11 — 34
3-point goals: Talladega 8 (Dickerson 2, Tanner 3, Duncan 2, Simmons); Chelsea 1 (Towers). Fouled out: Coleman. Total fouls: Talladega 23, Chelsea 21. Officials: Madaris, Craddock, Crawford.
On the cover: Faith Christian freshman Malcolm Carlisle, a transfer from Saks, gets some instruction from assistant coach Lawrence McGraw during a timeout Tuesday.
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