Falcons win thriller

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: January 5, 2018

Boys roundup: Davis’ last-second layup sends Donoho past Faith; Carlisle, LeCroy stage epic shootout

Donoho’s Jacob LeCroy (5) gets a hand in to disrupt the shot of Faith Christian’s Malcolm Carlisle. The two players were the high scorers in the game with LeCroy going for 30 and Carlisle going for 41. (Photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)

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FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Clay Central 75, Lincoln 48
Donoho 68, Faith Christian 66
Etowah 73, Alexandria 54
Handley 55, Anniston 48
Hokes Bluff 62, Jacksonville 52
Ohatchee 69, Coosa Christian 64
Pleasant Valley 72, Wellborn 49
Sacred Heart 74, Ingomar (Miss.) 61
Saks 60, Munford 48
White Plains 56, Weaver 47

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

All Turner Davis wanted was a chance to make up for a terrible mistake that luckily didn’t hurt his team.

He got it and grabbed hold of it with both hands.

Davis hauled in a baseball pass from Jacob LeCroy, just like he would have as one of Donoho’s sure-handed receivers on the football field, and dropped in a layup with seven-tenths of a second left Friday to lift the Falcons over area rival Faith Christian 68-66.

“I just made that big mistake and I really wanted a chance to redeem myself,” Davis said. “I’m so glad I got the chance to, so I didn’t look like a real big idiot. It’s by far the biggest shot I ever made. It’s probably the best feeling I ever felt.”

That big mistake was fouling Faith’s Jacques Prater with 6.2 seconds left in a 66-66 game. As Davis prayed on the block the foul wouldn’t come back to haunt the Falcons, Prater missed both shots to keep the game tied. LeCroy rebounded the second miss and found Davis flying down the court.

The sophomore, who entered the game only after a teammate had fouled out earlier in the quarter, then broke through traffic and laid in the game-winner off the glass.

“I saw an open man,” LeCroy said. “I saw the clock was about three seconds. I knew I could have forced something, but I told (Turner) I trusted him. After he fouled when the game was tied I told him it’d be all right, we got this, and he came through.”

“I thought I had blown the game,” Davis said. “We got the rebound off the missed free throw and I just started running down the court. I saw Jacob just loft the ball up over the defender. I kind of angled it up and it went in off the backboard into the hoop with about a half-second left.”

The win spoiled a 41-point effort by Faith’s Malcolm Carlisle. The freshman scored the Lions’ first 22 points and all but three of their 30 in the first half. He came out of the game with a cramp after hitting the go-ahead layup with 1:08 to play, but was back in for the final 30 seconds.

He was fouled on the play he cramped and needed Chase Gibbins to take the free throw for him. Gibbins missed, but Jacob Cleckler rebounded and put it back to extend the Lions’ lead to 66-63 lead inside a minute to play.

Cleckler was huge for the Lions in the second half as they rallied from nine down to start the fourth quarter. He scored 17 of his 19 in the second half and 13 in the fourth quarter.

The Lions (7-10) missed four free throws in the final 30 seconds and were only 4 of 13 from the line in the fourth quarter.

“It came down to free throws and we missed more free throws down the stretch,” Faith coach Justin Kisor said.

Donoho hardly missed any, or so it seemed, going 23 of 31 for the game. LeCroy led the Falcons (7-6) with 30 points. At one point the former Elks Club state free throw champion hit 10 free throws in a row, giving him a run of 20 straight over the last two nights.

Donoho coach Jeremy Satcher credited the Falcons’ experience in tight finishes earlier in the year with helping them get through this one at the end.

Faith Christian guard Jacques Prater (R) tries to drive past Donoho’s Will Nelson.

On the cover, Faith Christian freshman Malcolm Carlisle fires a 3-pointer in the first half against Donoho. View a photo gallery from the game at www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com

Friday’s Box Scores

Donoho 68, Faith Christian 66
FAITH CHRISTIAN (7-10) – Malcolm Carlisle 17 3-5 41, Mike McGraw 0 3-7 3, Jacques Prater 1 0-2 3, Seth Cravens 0 0-0 0, Jacob Cleckler 8 3-5 19, Bailey Thomas 0 0-0 0, Chase Gibbins 0 0-0 0, Dalton Rogers 0 0-2 0. Totals 26 9-21 66.

DONOHO (7-6) – Seth Ford 2 0-0 5, Amari Smedley 4 2-4 10, Jacob LeCroy 7 16-18 30, Joseph O’Neill 1 0-0 2, Rod Elston 3 5-7 11, Turner Davis 1 0-0 2, Reid Williamon 0 0-0 0, Will Nelson 2 0-0 4, Edwin Connell 2 0-2 4. Totals 22 23-31 68.

Faith Christian 12 18 13 23 — 66
Donoho 16 13 23 16 — 68

3-point goals: Faith 5 (Prater, Carlisle 4); Donoho 1 (Ford). Technical fouls: Elston. Fouled out: Cravens, Ford, Smedley, Connell. Total fouls: Faith 24, Donoho 27. Officials: Wright, Askew, Christopher.

Sacred Heart 74, Ingomar (Miss.) 61
INGOMAR – Trent Bradley 4-7 2-2 10, Hunter Bynum 0-0 0-0 0, Jay Pickens 7-15 4-4 20, Trey Keys 0-0 0-0 0, Kelon Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Clayton Stanford 0-1 0-0 0, Zach Shugars 2-4 0-1 4, Brandon Keys 2-3 0-1 5, Kelton Hall 7-19 3-4 22. Totals 22-50 9-12 61.

SACRED HEART – Quin Riggins 3-3 4-4 11, Diante Wood 12-17 8-11 34, Victor Wilson 3-6 0-2 8, Murdock Simmons 4-6 1-2 11, Caleb Brown 1-1 0-2 3, Joshua Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Stephen Stansil 1-1 0-0 2, Khalil Watkins 2-7 1-1 5.

Ingomar 17 12 19 13 — 61
Sacred Heart 19 22 22 11 — 74

3-point goals: Ingomar 8-22 (Pickens 2-6, B. Keys 1-1, Kt. Hall 5-15); Sacred Heart 8-15 (Riggins 1-1, Wood 2-5, Wilson 2-4, Simmons 2-3, C. Brown 1-1, Watkins 0-1). Rebounds: Ingomar 19 (Shugars 8); Sacred Heart 30 (Wood 17, Watkins 7). Technical fouls: Wood, Sacred Heart bench. Total fouls: Ingomar 19, Sacred Heart 11. Notes: Wood also had three blocked shots. Wilson also had six assists

Hokes Bluff 62, Jacksonville 52
JACKSONVILLE – Donovan McCain 6-11 3-3 15, Alex Gilbert 5-17 2-4 12, Macey Carr 4-12 0-0 9, DeAndre McCain 2-8 3-4 8, Alex Davis 2-3 0-0 4, Cade Landers 1-7 0-0 2, Jay Davis 0-0 2-2 2, DeDarien Savage 0-0 0-0 0, DeMarien Stewart 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-59 10-13 52.

HOKES BLUFF – Landon Johnson 6-9 4-6 16, Hayden Lipsomb 5-8 6-8 16, Donavon Greaves 4-6 1-1 10, Braydon Hill 3-5 3-4 9, Ashton Gulledge 4-5 1-2 9, Peyton Moore 1-1 0-0 2, Jace Stewart 0-1 0-1 0, Dylan Teague 0-2 0-0 0, Cole Contris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-37 15-22 62.

Jacksonville 14 15 8 15 — 52
Hokes Bluff 11 22 13 16 — 62

3-point goals: Jacksonville 2-15 (Gilbert 0-1, Carr 1-6, De. McCain 1-5, Cd. Landers 0-2, Stewart 0-1); Hokes Bluff 1-6 (Johnson 0-1, Greaves 1-2, Hill 0-1, Stewart 0-1, Teague 0-1). Rebounds: Jacksonville 38 (Do. McCain 13, Gilbert 6); Hokes Bluff 22 (Johnson 7). Total fouls: Jacksonville 17, Hokes Bluff 16.

White Plains 56, Weaver 47
WHITE PLAINS – Coleman Messer 0 0-0 0, Houston Conger 1 0-0 3, Chase Helms 2 5-6 9, Pierson Branham 1 2-2 4, Austin Bussey 1 1-2 3, Drake Preston 7 6-8 22, Matthew Clay 3 0-2 8, Jaden Harris 0 0-0 0, Ethan Bozarth 1 2-4 4, Gavin Burrage 2 0-0 4. Totals: 18 15-24 56,

WEAVER – Taylor Deck 1 1-2 3, London Knight 4 2-4 10, Robert Gaines 2 5-6 9, Shamar Spinks 2 0-1 4, Perry 1 3-4 6, Dalton Hamby 0 1-2 1, Wallace 1 0-0 2, Amardric Elston 4 4-6 12. Totals 15 16-26 47.

White Plains 6 23 9 18 — 56
Weaver 8 12 8 18 — 47

3-point goals: White Plains 5 (Conger, Preston 2, Clay 2), Weaver 1 (Perry). Technical fouls: Spinks 2, Fouled out: Knight, Spinks, Elston. Total fouls: White Plains 24, Weaver 24. Officials: Burroughs, Batey, Pratt. Notes: Preston scored 11 points in the second and 11 in the fourth. The Wildcats were 13-for-20 from foul line in the fourth quarter.

Saks 60, Munford 49
MUNFORD – Kedrick Brown 3 1-2 6, Zay Britt 3 2-5 8, Majijah Smith 6 2-2 18,Anthony Stevens 1 0-0 2, Justin Sistrunk 1 4-6 6, Mikah Mitchell 1 1-4 4, Jeffrey Threatt 1 1-2 3. Totals 16 11-21 43.

SAKS – Darien Briskey 2 6-9 11, DeVaunghn Beason 9 4-4, Laderrick Bell 3 0-0 9, C.J. Lauderdale 1 0-0 3, Zay Elston 2 2-2 6, Daveon Dukes 1 0-0 2, Tyler Smith 1 2-4 4. Totals 19 14-22 49.

Munford 11 9 14 15 — 49
Saks 26 9 12 13 — 60

3-point goals: Munford 6 (Brown, Smith 4, Mitchell); Saks 7 (Briskey, Beason 3, Bell 3). Total fouls: Munford 18, Saks 15. The Wildcats buried six of their seven 3-pointers in the first quarter, including all three of Bell’s.

Ohatchee 69, Coosa Christian 64
COOSA CHRISTIAN – Ethan Wells 9 3-3 22, Dartavious Britton 1 0-0 2, Evan Delp 5 2-3 12, Juston Waits 5 5-8 16, Caiden Lipscomb 0 1-4 1, Jackson Justus 5 0-2 11. Totals 25 11-20 64.

OHATCHEE – Blake Buckelew 4 4-5 15, Ben Glass 5 2-4 14, Carson Stone 0 0-0 0, Grayson Alward 0 0-0 0, Bayley Tillison 3 0-0 7, Evan Keller 5 1-2 13, Domonique Thomas 4 2-8 10, Aaron Moore 4 0-2 8, Lowe 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 9-21 69.

Coosa 19 13 10 22 — 64
Ohatchee 16 13 16 24 — 69

3-point goals: Coosa 3 (Wells, Waits, Justus); Ohatchee 9 (Buckelew 3, Glass 3, Tillison, Keller 2)
Fouled out: Delp, Buckelew. Total fouls: Coosa 18, Ohatchee 18. Officials: Killingsworth, Phillips, Barber.

Clay Central 75, Lincoln 48
CLAY CENTRAL – Jacquez Bullock 4 0-0 10, Camerun Peoples 1 3-4 5, Cole Burns 1 0-0 2, Ben Street 10 4-5 25, Jamal Williamson 6 4-4 16, Dwayne Garrett 1 0-0 2, Shamari Simmons 2 3-6 7, LaShawn Simmons 3 0-0 6, Paul Garrett 1 0-0 2. Totals 29 14-19 75.

LINCOLN – Javian Surles 10 4-6 24, Joseph Gaston 0 3-4 3, Tre Garrett 1 2-3 5, Conner Thomas 0 0-0 0, Earl Wells 5 0-1 10, Zay Ragland 0 0-0 0, Teddy Hall 0 0-0 0, Shamar Hampton 0 0-2 0, Jack Wood 0 0-0 0, Shaun Davis 0 0-0 0, Josh Jackson 1 1-2 3, Jakahri Howard 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 10-16 48.

Clay Central 14 17 26 18 — 75
Lincoln 9 17 18 4 — 48

3-point goals: Clay Central 3 (Bullock 2, Street); Lincoln 2 (Surles, Garrett). Total fouls: Clay Central 19, Lincoln 14.