Bulldogs send message
- Updated: February 1, 2019
Anniston secures 20-win season under Brown with big victory over potential sub-state opponent Jacksonville
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Anniston 62, Jacksonville 36
Cherokee County at Fort Payne
Glencoe 62, Pleasant Valley 58
Jacksonville Christian 52, ASD 20
Lincoln 73, Wellborn 19
Munford at Pell City
Oxford 91, Hazel Green 73
Westbrook Christian 61, Piedmont 52
Sand Rock at Hokes Bluff
Spring Garden 61, Collinsville 53
Talladega 69, Clay Central 66
Weaver 70, Faith Christian 64
White Plains 57, Ranburne 45
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Teams play games for the day and, in deference to what gets said publicly sometimes, file a lot of it away for things possibly down the road.
Knowing Jacksonville could be a possible crossover playoff opponent in two weeks, Anniston wanted to make a statement in its final regular-season game Friday night.
The message in the Bulldogs’ 62-36 victory was a simple one: Expect a battle if we play again.
“Tonight was big for us for a whole lot of reasons,” Anniston coach Torry Brown said. “One was the cross and we’ll probably get a chance to see them again. Two, we were going for 20 wins, which is big in the process of rebuilding our program here.”
The teams could meet in a Class 4A sub-state playoff game depending on how their area tournaments go.
Both are No. 1 seeds in their respective tournaments, both by virtue of a coin flip after tying for first place.
If it does happen, it will be only the third county crossover for a trip to the regionals at Jacksonville State since 2014. The other two were Piedmont 3A wins over Wellborn (2017) and Ohatchee (2015).
“Coach said this was the most important game of the year,” senior forward Hunter Rouse said. “Because of that reason. We had to come out and play strong.”
Anniston, coming off an overtime win at Clay Central the night before, came out quickly and took control with an 18-2 run that carried into the second quarter.
Bulldogs forward Hunter Rouse was hot right out of the gate. He scored the first five points of the game and had 11 of his points in the first quarter.
While the first quarter belonged to Rouse, Antonio Kite took over in the second half. He scored 11 points in the third quarter and finished with 16. Kwame Milton had 14.
Donavon McCain led Jacksonville with 15 points and 16 rebounds.
It was the second time this season Anniston has beaten Jacksonville handily. The job for coach Cordell Hunt now is to not let that be a factor in the preparation if the Golden Eagles do meet the Dawgs again.
“If they’re competitors I shouldn’t have to say anything,” Hunt said. “We got beat by Anniston twice, in pretty good fashion (69-36 and 62-36). Hopefully the competitive spirit in us will allow us to come back and want to play them and play them tougher. There were some spurts when we played good. We just can’t let them make little runs.”
In addition to the 18-2 run that gave them control, the Bulldogs had 7-0 sprees in the second and fourth quarters and an 8-0 run in the third.
Anniston 62, Jacksonville 36
JACKSONVILLE – Donavon McCain 5-15 5-8 15, Yessman Green 4-10 1-3 11, DeMarien Stewart 1-4 0-0 3, Jay Davis 1-2 0-0 2, Omarion Adams 0-2 2-2 2, Hudson Harvey 1-1 0-0 2, Kyrie Maynor 0-3 1-2 1, Luke Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Nathan Barnwell 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-40 9-15 36.
ANNISTON (20-7) – Antonio Kite 7-14 0-0 16, Kwame Milton 6-12 0-2 14, Hunter Rouse 4-7 1-1 11, Ladreka Hall 3-5 2-2 8, Theron Montgomery 3-3 0-0 6, William Fairley 2-4 0-0 5, Fredrick Sanders 0-3 0-0 0, Malcolm Harvey 1-2 0-0 2, Jordan Caldwell 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Ferrell 0-3 0-0 0, Tyree Carmichael 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 3-5 62.
Jacksonville 10 10 7 9 – 36
Anniston 20 16 15 11 – 62
3-point goals: Jacksonville 3-11 (Green 2-3, Steart 1-4, Davis 0-1, Adams 0-1, Maynor 0-2); Anniston 7-20 (Kite 2-3, Milton 2-5, Rouse 2-4, Fairley 1-2, Sanders 0-3, Ferrell 0-3). Rebounds: Jacksonville 33 (McCain 16); Anniston 28 (Milton 9). Total fouls: Jacksonville 5, Anniston 12.
Cover photo by B.J. Franklin
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