Boys roundup

Sacred Heart uses a fast start to get out on Spring Garden, clinches area’s top seed; also includes Ohatchee, Alexandria

Thursday’s Scores
Alexandria 69, Boaz 46
Ohatchee 76, Pleasant Valley 28
Sacred Heart 63, Spring Garden 48
Smiths Station 58, Anniston 40
Weaver 75, Wellborn 22

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Sacred Heart clinched the No. 1 seed in its upcoming area tournament for the fourth year in a row, but it’s just another step to a much bigger prize. The Cardinals know they’ll have clean up some things to a get back in the fast lane for that.

Coach Ralph Graves readily admitted the Cardinals didn’t play their best Thursday night, but they had enough on their Senior Night and Homecoming to put away Spring Garden 63-48 and snap the Panthers’ 15-game winning streak.

“We played well in spurts,” Graves said. “We’ve still got to play well all the time. We played well enough to win, but not to the standard. Sometimes, that’s not a bad thing. Whenever you can win and you don’t play well, imagine what it is when you play well.

“I’m glad we got the win here and we’re on a quest to try to win another state championship. It’s always nice to win. You want to win, because winning proves that maybe you’re on your way.”

It was a night to celebrate the seniors and those who did play had a hand in the victory. In the first quarter it was Quin Riggins; the Iowa Central commitment hit two 3s right out of the gate and had eight of his 11 points in the quarter. Alabama signee Diante Wood got more assertive in the second quarter with seven of his game-high 15 points and four of his six rebounds. Victor Wilson hit three 3s in the third quarter and scored all 10 of his points in it. Junior Khalil Watkins had 13 points.

Wood now has 3,042 career points and 989 career rebounds. He is currently ninth on the state’s all-time scoring list.

“We do have a team,” Graves said. “The wealth is spread around.”

Spring Garden, meanwhile, couldn’t get a basket to fall early in the game and Sacred Heart was took advantage of it. The Cardinals were up 18-3 early. It was 33-15 shortly before halftime.

“We didn’t play good,” Panthers coach Ricky Austin said. “We’re really disappointed in how passive we were on offense. We played good enough defense to be in the game at halftime, but offensively we did not play well.

“It was one of two things. It was either their defense or we were passive and I think it was a combination of both. Their defense is aggressive, but I thought we were very passive against it.”

The Panthers did put together a small rally in the second half. They went on an 11-3 run late in the third quarter to cut their deficit to 10, but Sacred Heart’s Wilson kissed a 3-pointer off the glass right before the horn and the Panthers never got any closer.

Dalton Rogers started the Panthers’ rally with a 3-pointer and wound up with 11 points. Draven Bowman scored all seven of his points in the quarter.

“We made some shots, that was the difference,” Austin said. “We just never got any offensive rhythm going. I’m disappointed in that because I know how important that is against their defense. You’ve got to be able to function offensively. We’re more skilled than we played tonight. We’re built to beat a team like this and we didn’t use our strength tonight.”

Spring Garden really doesn’t have any time to wallow in this loss. The Panthers play Faith Christian Friday and then have a full slate of games next week in advance of the area tournament, where they hold the No. 2 seed. Sacred Heart wraps up its regular season Friday against Jacksonville Christian.

“All that was said in the locker room after the game was I told them nothing matters except tomorrow night,” Austin said. “If it gets back to another Sacred Heart game (in the area tournament), we’ll deal with tonight then. Nothing’s more important than getting back and getting rhythm going again tomorrow night.”

THURSDAY’S BOYS BOX SCORES

Sacred Heart 63, Spring Garden 48
SPRING GARDEN – Riley Austin 2 2-4 6, Cooper Austin 0 0-0 0, Dalton Rogers 4 2-2 11, Ashton Rogers 1 2-2 5, Dylan Rogers 3 1-3 7, Destin Richardson 0 0-0 0, Isiah Sanchez 4 1-1 9, Luke Welsh 1 0-0 2, Draven Bowman 3 0-0 7, Weston Kirk 0 1-4 1, Avery Gowens 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 9-16 48.

SACRED HEART – Quin Riggins 4 1-2 10, Diante Wood 7 0-2 15, Victor Wilson 3 1-4 10, Jack Miller 0 0-0 0, Caleb Brown 2 2-3 6, Joshua Brown 3 1-2 8, Stephen Stansil 0 0-0 0, JonRiley Miller 0 0-0 0, Khalil Watkins 5 0-0 13. Totals 24 5-13 63.

Spring Garden 9 8 20 11 — 48
Sacred Heart 20 13 17 13 — 63

3-point goals: Spring Garden 3 (Da. Rogers, A. Rogers, Bowman); Sacred Heart 10 (Riggins 2, Wood, Wilson 3, J. Brown, Watkins 3). Technical fouls: C. Brown. Fouled out: Riggins. Total fouls: Spring Garden 12, Sacred Heart 16. Officials: Tidwell Evans, Chambers.

Alexandria 69, Boaz 46
BOAZ – Bronson Smith 2 0-1 4, Brian Montomgery 5 0-0 14, Adan Ramirez 2 0-0 4, Tyler Ray 0 0-0 0, Ben Morgan 0 0-3 0, Carson Gillaspie 0 3-4 3, Jacob Smith 2 5-6 10, Lucas Smith 3 0-0 6, Jesus Vazquez 2 1-3 5. Totals 16 9-17 46.

ALEXANDRIA – Joe Tucker 5 1-2 13, Adam Young 0 0-4 0, Jake Weathington 1 0-0 3, Dru Davis 4 0-0 12, Grayson Chaffin 0 0-2 0, Dalton Dodd 2 0-0 4, Romeo Dye 1 0-0 3, Jared Ponder 0 0-1 0, Jalen Borders 4 0-0 8, Josh Tucker 4 1-1 10, Landan Williams 7 2-3 16. Totals 28 4-13 69.

Boaz 12 7 14 13 — 46
Alexandria 21 9 28 11 — 69

3-point goals: Boaz 5 (Montgomery 4, J. Smith); Alexandria 9 (Jo. Tucker 2, Weathington, Davis 4, Dye, Js. Tucker). Fouled out: Gillaspie, Chaffin. Total fouls: Boaz 17, Alexandria 17. Officials: Morriss, Baker, Stringer. Notes: Joe Tucker scored eight points and the Valley Cubs hit four 3s in the first quarter to get started. Williams scored all his points in the second half.

Weaver 75, Wellborn 22
WELLBORN – Chuck Taylor 0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Nolen 1 0-0 3, Eric Johnson 1 1-2 3, Cody Adams 0 0-0 0, Khavion Wesley 2 0-0 4, Ked Harris 1 2-2 4, Kam Goodwin 2 0-0 4, Rob Broom 0 0-0 0, Austin Cooper 2 0-2 4, Dylan Grubbs 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 3-6 22.

WEAVER – Tyler Deck 0 1-2 1, London Knight 2 0-0 4, Robert Gaines 8 2-2 20, Nick Torres 3 5-6 11, Alex Perry 5 2-2 12, Dalton Hamby 0 0-0 0, Brandon Heath 3 2-7 9, Gary Wallace 1 4-10 6, Amardric Elston 5 2-2 12. Totals 27 18-31 75.

Wellborn 2 6 7 7 — 22
Weaver 23 23 16 13 — 75

3-point goals: Wellborn 1 (Nolen); Weaver 3 (Gaines 2, Heath). Fouled out: Johnson, Goodwin. Total fouls: Wellborn 21, Weaver 7. Officials: Burroughs, Dyphron, Watson.

Ohatchee 76, Pleasant Valley 28
PLEASANT VALLEY – Austin Johnson 0 0-0 0, Jake Malsy 0 0-0 0, Caden Turner 1 0-0 3, Ethan Johnson 4 0-0 8, Colby Gaines 1 3-4 5, Ballew 1 0-0 3, Coleman Haynes 1 2-4 4, Brooks Davis 0 0-0 0, Caleb Parker 1 1-1 3, Wyatt Ingram 0 0-0 0, Connor Wolfe 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 6-9 28.

OHATCHEE – Andrew Roberts 0 2-4 2, Blake Buckelew 3 6-7 12, Ben Glass 2 0-2 5, Carson Stone 0 0-0 0, Grayson Alward 2 0-0 4, Kevin Williamson 5 0-0 11, Bayley Tillison 2 0-0 4, Evan Keller 4 1-2 10, Domonique Thomas 2 0-1 4, Landon Key 1 0-0 3, Aaron Moore 5 0-0 10, Briley Hale 4 1-1 9, Jordan Lowe 1 0-0 2. Totals 31 10-17 76.

Pleasant Valley 7 14 2 5 — 28
Ohatchee 24 27 16 9 — 76

3-point goals: PV 2 (Turner, Ballew); Ohatchee 4 (Glass, Williamson, Keller, Key). Total fouls: PV 14, Ohatchee 14. Officials: Hollingsworth, Battles, Barber.

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