Eagles golden from line
- Updated: January 18, 2019
Boys roundup: Jacksonville spot on from free throw line in big win over White Plains, Talladega’s Miller wins 750th, and more
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Faith Christian 52, Wellborn 42
Jacksonville 59, White Plains 56
Weaver 72, Donoho 45
Winterboro 87, Ragland 59
Sacred Heart 47, Westbrook Christian 39
Sylacauga 78, Munford 36
Talladega 81, Lincoln 55
Ranburne at Clay Central
Cherokee County Tournament
Spring Garden 65, Sand Rock 48
Cherokee County 60, Cedar Bluff 30
Etowah County Tournament
Championship game
Hokes Bluff 72, Southside 42
Saturday’s Calhoun County Tournament
At Piedmont
Pleasant Valley vs. Donoho, 10:30 a.m.
Faith Christian vs. Ohatchee, 1:30 p.m.
Jacksonville Christian vs. Wellborn, 4:30 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Jacksonville basketball coach Cordell Hunt figures his team spends “a good” 30 minutes a day – every day – in practice working on free throws – just for games like Friday night.
The Golden Eagles went to the line in the second half and hit foul shots like they were layups. They were 24-of-27 in the half – hitting 20 in a row at one point – always keeping White Plains at arm’s length in a 59-56 victory that threw the Class 4A Area 10 race into chaos.
“I do need to give that (free throw) coach a raise,” Hunt said. “To be good at free throws you’ve got to practice them and we devote so much time to that in practice. Without the free throws, we don’t win that game.”
It’s not the first time this week the Golden Eagles made it count from the line in a big game. They were 17-of-20 Tuesday night in beating Cherokee County to even have a shot at making Friday’s game meaningful.
They may always be confident stepping up to the line, but no way could they have even imagined the run they would enjoy in the second half. Donavon McCain missed the first shot of a two-shot situation at the start of the third quarter, then the Golden Eagles didn’t miss again until Kyrie Maynor missed the front end of a two-shot foul with 30.6 seconds to play. That was 20 in a row, if you were counting.
For the game, Jay Davis was 9-of-12 from the line, but made nine of his last 10. Maynor was 10-of-11. Yessman Green was 5-for-5. Jacksonville was 16-of-18 in the fourth quarter.
“That’s Coach Hunt, he always has us shooting free throws – always,” Davis said. “Free throws can win games. They can win games, lose games. He’s always preaching that to us.”
“We shoot them every single day, we never skip foul shots,” Kyrie Maynor said. “We’ll shoot foul shots before we shoot 3s. Foul shots are the key to our team.”
White Plains could have clinched the No. 1 seed and hosting rights for the area tournament with a victory. Now, the Golden Eagles are in a position to be No. 1 with the possibility of a three-way tie at the top.The easiest explanation has to do with what Hokes Bluff does in its remaining area games against White Plains and Cherokee County.
“While I’ve been in high school I haven’t hosted the area and now we have a chance to host it,” Davis said.
Don’t leave home without those tiebreaker scenarios.
Early on it looked like White Plains could start planning the tournament. The Wildcats used a 15-2 run to take a 17-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. But it was a completely different story the rest of the way. In the second quarter Jacksonville ramped up its defense, White Plains started missing shots and the Golden Eagles were there to rebound.
The Wildcats scored only 13 points over the second and third quarters. Jacksonville, meanwhile, went on a 16-4 tear that lasted most of the second quarter to take the lead – ironically on two free throws by Davis – with 3:20 left in the first half and they stayed in front except for one possession early in the third quarter.
“You can’t score 13 points combined in the second and third quarter and win an area game, you just can’t,” White Plains coach Chris Randall said. “Six for 14 from the free throw line at home, you’re not supposed to win.”
“We just knew we had to get after them to have a chance to host,” Davis said.
An 11-2 run pushed the Golden Eagles safely back in front. They were up 11 with 4:20 to play, but Brody Baker brought White Plains back under a hail of 3-pointers.
Baker scored 15 points in the fourth quarter. His third 3 of the quarter got the Wildcats to within 56-54 with 21.7 seconds left, but Davis hit two more free throws to push the lead back to four and then hit another one later to make it a five-point game with 10 seconds to play.
Jacksonville 59, White Plains 56
JACKSONVILLE (11-9) – Kyrie Maynor 3-5 10-11 17, Jay Davis 3-4 9-12 16, Yessman Green 2-11 5-5 10, DeMarien Stewart 2-3 2-2 7, Donavon McCain 2-4 2-4 6, Omarion Adams 1-4 0-0 2, Hudson Harvey 0-1 1-2 1, Nathan Barnwell 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Carter Landers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-32 29-36 59.
WHITE PLAINS (12-7) – Brody Baker 6-12 2-2 17, Quin Wilson 4-7 0-2 9, Jaden Chatman 3-6 3-6 9, Simeon Shadrix 3-11 0-1 7, Gavin Burrage 2-7 1-2 6, Matthew Clay 2-4 0-0 4, Coleman Messer 1-1 0-0 2, Houston Conger 1-1 0-0 2, Jaden Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Wheeler 0-0 0-0 0, Kahlil Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-49 6-13 56.
Jacksonville 6 18 12 23 – 59
White Plains 17 5 8 26 – 56
3-point goals: Jacksonville 4-14 (Maynor 1-2, Davis 1-1, Green 1-6, Stewart 1-2, McCain 0-1, Adams 0-2); White Plains 6-27 (Baker 3-7, Wilson 1-2, Chatman 0-3, Shadrix 1-8, Burrage 1-5, Clay 0-2). Rebounds: Jacksonville 26 (Davis 7, McCain 7); White Plains 30 (Clay 7). Technical fouls: Clay, Adams. Fouled out: Adams, Burrage, Clay. Total fouls: Jacksonville 17, White Plains 19. Officials: Aaron Kelly, Valder Ned, Ken Washington.
WEAVER 72, DONOHO 45
WEAVER (16-6) – Taylor Deck 1 0-0 3, Brandon Heath 1 4-4 6, Robert Gaines 11 2-2 25, Shamar Spinks 8 0-0 16, DeAndre McCain 2 0-0 5, Amardric Elston 5 1-3 11, Taber Stephens 0 0-0 0, Colby Thompson 0 0-0 0, Austin Bryant 3 0-0 6. Totals 32 5-9 72.
DONOHO – Seth Ford 2 0-0 5, Amari Smedley 4 2-3 11, Rod Elston 4 0-0 10, Reid Willamon 2 0-0 5, Jacob LeCroy 3 1-3 7, Thein Bui 0 0-2 0, Connor Goodson 1 0-0 3, Delkari Garrett 2 0-0 4, Chandler Armstrong 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 3-8 45.
Weaver 15 21 16 20 – 72
Donoho 10 14 9 12 – 45
3-point goals: Weaver 3 (Deck, Gaines, McCain); Donoho 6 (Ford, Smedley, Elston 2, Williamon, Goodson). Technical fouls: Gaines. Total fouls: Weaver 12, Donoho 8. Officials: Wood, Wright, Robinson. Notes: Gaines, held to five points by foul trouble the night before, had 11 in the first quarter and 19 in the first half. Spinks had eight in the fourth quarter and 12 in the second half.
TALLADEGA 81, LINCOLN 55
TALLADEGA – Keandre Brand 0 0-0 0, Nigel Scales 3 2-2 7, Chaztin Tanner 4 0-2 9, Jaquon Chatman 2 0-0 4, Aaron Green 6 0-0 12, Rontavious Barclay 2 0-0 4, D’Corian Wilson 4 2-2 11, J.Q. Wilson 4 1-2 9, Kobe Simmons 10 0-0 20, Brocker Simmons 1 0-0 2. Totals 36 5-8 81.
LINCOLN – Brian Garrett 10 2-3 25, Cam Reynolds 0 1-2 1, Tre Garrett 6 0-0 15, Jokahn Howard 1 0-0 2, Steven White 0 0-0 0, Xavier Ragland 0 0-0 0, Kavon Moore 1 0-1 2, Jack Wood 1 0-0 2, Trevon Hines 1 0-1 2, Kye Patterson 1 4-4 6. Totals 21 7-11 55.
Talladega 26 23 21 11 – 81
Lincoln 18 14 9 14 – 55
3-point goals: Talladega 4 (D. Wilson, Tanner, Scales 2); Lincoln 6 (B. Garrett 3, T. Garrett 3). Total fouls: Talladega 10, Lincoln 7. Officials: Chambers, Hollingsworth, Howell. Notes: The Tigers shot 33-of-48 from the field to give coach Chucky Miller his 750thcareer victory. The win also forces a coin toss with Anniston to determine top seed and host in the area tournament. Simmons had 11 rebounds to go with his points for another double-double. Green had six rebounds and four assists.
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