Getting even
- Updated: November 26, 2019
UPDATED Boys roundup: Oxford follows its football team’s lead by knocking off a playoff nemesis; Jacksonville, White Plains pick up tournament wins
MONDAY’S SCORES
Alexandria 67, Jacksonville Christian 56
Faith Christian 63, Donoho 50
Pleasant Valley 72, Gaston 47
Coach T Classic, Chattanooga
White Plains 54, Tennessee Christian 40
Boyd Buchanan (Tenn.) 58, Calvary Day (N.C.) 45
Coy Smith Thanksgiving Tournament, Ashville
Ragland def. Vincent
Jacksonville 75, Ashville 40
Heritage Classic, Fairfield
Minor 56, Center Point 52
Wenonah 66, Paul Bryant 47
Huffman 69, Midfield 39
Oxford 51, Parker 47
Pinson Valley 92, Jefferson Davis 58
Woodlawn 76, Shades Valley 50
Bessemer City 60, Hoover 54
Fairfield 70, Demopolis 49
Liberty Bank Thanksgiving Shootout
Cherokee County 53, Geraldine 50
Marble City Classic, Sylacauga
Lincoln 82, Prattville Christian 69
Sylacauga 73, B.B. Comer 18
Plainview Thanksgiving Tournament
Hewitt-Trussville 75, Hamilton 65
Plainview 72, Anniston 47
Spartan Turkey Jam, Mountain Brook
Gadsden City 63, Greensboro 28
Hillcrest 76, Carver (B’ham) 58
Sacred Heart 57, Haleyville 51
Mountain Brook 88, Greenville 57
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
FAIRFIELD – The Oxford basketball team took a big step in their development of this season Monday, taking care of a playoff nemesis much the way its football team did Friday night.
The Yellow Jackets weren’t at their best in the opening round of the Heritage Classic at Fairfield High School, but they still took down Parker 51-47. It’s significant in the fact the Thunder Herd knocked them out of the Class 6A regional finals in 2017 and 2018, and they haven’t forgotten.
“I think our guys kind of looked at it that way,” Jackets coach Joel VanMeter said. “They kind of see until you can beat these teams that have beaten you, you can’t live where they’re living. Our guys looked at it that way and approached it that way.
“We did not play well, but we were tough enough on two or three plays down the stretch and we took care of the ball in the second half. If you go over to Birmingham and beat Parker in one of their gyms, it’s a heck of a win; it doesn’t matter what happens.”
The Herd held Justin Moore and Mont McClendon to two points each, but Kobe Warren and Zondrick Garrett made up the difference for the Jackets. Warren scored 20 points and hit 11 of 16 free throws, 6-for-10 in the fourth quarter to keep the Herd at bay. Oxford was 9-for-17 from the line in the fourth quarter.
Parker hit two 3s and a 2 in the final minute and thanks to Warren’s coolness at the line — and Garrett’s — the Jackets still won by four. Garrett scored 16 points, with three free throws in the fourth quarter, and Milas Jackson continued to provide some good minutes off the bench.
“We did a good job of winning at their pace,” VanMeter said. “When you play some of the Birmingham city schools they’re going to force you to play the way they want to play and you’ve got to win the game.
“I told our guys I thought it was really impressive. I think it showed our toughness, our resilience and when we played our best we played together. You’re not going to play well 30 games during the year. What do good teams do? They figure out how to win when they don’t play well. I think that’s a huge accomplishment for them.”
The win sends the Jackets to face another Birmingham area school and the team that knocked them out of last year’s regionals – Huffman.
The Oxford football team last Friday advanced to the state 6A semifinals by knocking off Clay-Chalkville, a team that had bounced them from the playoffs in the third round each of the last two years and had beaten the Jackets the last six times they played
OXFORD – Cordell Chatman 0 0-0 0, Zondrick Garrett 6 3-9 16, Rylan Houck 4 0-0 8, Mont McClendon 0 2-2 2, Kobe Warren 4 11-16 20, Bakari Dailey 0 0-0 0, Justin Moore 1 0-2 2, Milas Jackson 1 1-1 3. Totals 16 17-30 51.
PARKER – Kambree Johnson 9 2-7 21, Keith Body 4 0-0 8, Ross Holloway 1 0-0 3, Courtland Watkins 1 0-0 2, Tavion Williams 4 3-7 11, Mal Cooper 0 0-0 0, Walter Wallace 0 0-0 0, DeMarcus Smith 0 0-0 0, Michael Johnson 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 4-15 47.
Oxford 13 10 11 17 – 51
Parker 8 14 7 18 – 47
3-point goals: Oxford 2 (Garrett, Warren); Parker 2 (K. Johnson, Holloway). Fouled out: Moore, Watkins. Total fouls: Oxford 16, Parker 22. Officials: Braks, Hicks, Coleman.
Cover photo of Kobe Warren by B.J. Franklin.
Coy Smith Tournament
ASHVILLE – Jacksonville is still very much in the hunt for a state football championship, but there’s a basketball season getting underway the Golden Eagles don’t want to leave behind.
While the bulk of his varsity basketball roster is still grinding on the gridiron, coach Cordell Hunt took a roster full of JV players with the few non-football playing varsity guys he has left and with little expectations and not much more in the playbook headed to their season opening tournament.
The Golden Eagles did better than hold their own. They swamped host Ashville 75-40 in the opening round of the Coy Smith Thanksgiving Tournament.
“It tells me that my young guys stepped up and played basketball,” Hunt said. “I was really impressed with how we got to the glass. We haven’t had maybe six or seven practices and that’s the only thing we’ve been preaching – getting to the rack, getting to the glass and getting to the free throw line.”
The Golden Eagles outrebounded their hosts 49-21, scored 17 second-chance points just off their offensive rebounds and were 16-of-22 from the line.
Of the 15 players on the varsity roster, only three are basketball-only players. Senior Donovan McCain led the group with 16 points and 10 rebounds – both game highs. Their two other basketball-only guys – Hudson Harvey and Jacob McCarley – combined for eight points, 15 rebounds and 4-for-7 shooting from the floor.
That left plenty of opportunities for the JV guys to make a mark. John Broom had 13 points and five rebounds Cam Johnson had 11 points and Nathan Barnwell had eight points and eight boards.
“This is a very talented group coming up; all they’ve done is won,” Hunt said. “When it gets to the varsity level it’s a little different, but they stepped up. Everybody kind of stepped up and did their part. They’ve just got to continue to get better. They can’t settle for being what they have been. That’s in the past. We’re trying to move forward.”This story will be updated.
JACKSONVILLE – Donavon McCain 6-10 4-6 16, John Broom 5-11 2-2 13, Cam Johnson 4-9 2-2 11, Nathan Barnwell 2-5 4-4 8, Hayden Robinson 3-3 2-2 8, Caden Johnson 3-4 2-2 8, Hudson Harvey 2-5 0-1 4, Jacob McCarley 2-2 0-2 4, Julian Hill 1-3 0-0 3, Tavarea Veasley 0-2 0-1 0. Totals 28-54 16-22 75.
ASHVILLE – Daniel Welch 5-12 0-0 13, Jacob Wilson 3-6 2-3 8, John Phillips 3-9 0-0 7, Ashton Vann 2-5 1-3 6, Elijah Turner 1-3 0-0 2, Adriane Hernandez 1-5 0-0 2, Cesar Segura 1-4 0-0 2, J-Brelin Cook 0-1 0-0 0, Landon Vann 0-2 0-0 0, Alejandro Pantoja 0-0 0-0 0, C. Hyatt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-48 3-6 40.
Jacksonville 17 18 21 19 – 75
Ashville 9 12 14 5 – 40
3-point goals: Jacksonville 3-11 (McCain 0-1, Broom 1-5, Johnson 1-2, Hill 1-3); Ashville 5-23 (Welch 3-8, Wilson 0-1, Phillips 1-4, A. Vann 1-3, Hernandez 0-1, Segura 0-3, Cook 0-1, L. Vann 0-1, Hyatt 0-1). Rebounds: Jacksonville 49 (McCain 10, Barnwell 8, Harvey 9); Ashville 21 (Welch 4). Total fouls: Jacksonville 11, Ashville 18.
Coach T Classic
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Brody Baker finally started making the shots his coaches have urging him to take and it paid off in a 17-point night as White Plains took down Tennessee Christian 58-44 setting up a potentially epic battle with Coach T Classic host Boyd Buchanan Tuesday night.
Baker scored 11 of his points in the first half as the Wildcats opened a 32-22 halftime lead and had five more in the third quarter when they pushed the lead to 20 points.
“Brody was solid,” White Plains coach Chris Randall said. “His shot’s been looking good but nothing’s been going down, but today he got a couple 3-balls to go down and he finished a couple offensive rebounds. We got him the ball in spots we needed to get him the ball and he was really steady.”
Coleman Messer had nine of his 11 points in the second quarter when the Wildcats started pulling away. Quin Wilson hit a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter.
“Today we were sloppy, I thought we were soft on the glass, careless with the ball,” Randall said. “We’ll take a win, but boy at the end of the day it didn’t really feel like one. We left a lot of buckets out there, a lot of loose balls out there, I don’t think anybody in our group’s happy with the way we played.”
All three teams in the field have some connection to coach Kevin Templeton for whom the tournament is named. White Plains coach Chris Randall’s relationship goes back to his junior year at Trinity when his team played Templeton’s team from Lima, Ohio, in the Christian schools national tournament. Then Trinity coach Larry Skinner and Templeton became good friends and their teams were regular participants in Templeton’s summer camps at Tennessee Temple and Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.
They played Boyd Buchanan four times this past summer and split the games. They’ll play Calvary Day of Winston-Salem, N.C., in a getaway game Wednesday.
“Tomorrow will test everything about us, everything that we’ve been teaching these guys for years,” Randall said. “The team we play is really well-coached, they’re tough, they’re physical, they’re big, they’re strong, they’re smart, they shoot good. They just don’t make mistakes.
“We preach all the time about controlling everything we can control. These next two days are why we come up here. We’re going to get a good test of ourselves.”
WHITE PLAINS – Coleman Messer 5-1-11, Jaden Chatman 1-0-2, Jacob Wheeler 3-0-6, Brody Baker 6-3-17, Quin Wilson 2-1-7, Landon Senciboy 3-0-8, Carson Wright 0-0-0, Henry O’Steen 2-3-7, Kahlil Williams 0-0-0, Garrett Wilson 0-0-0. Totals 22-8-58.
TENNESSEE CHRISTIAN – C. Botts 2-0-5, West 2-1-5, Hodge 5-3-14, Braxton Botts 3-0-7, Caines 0-1-1, Conar 2-2-6, Jones 2-2-6. Totals 16-9-44.
White Plains 13 19 17 9 – 58
Tenn. Christian 13 9 7 15 – 44
3-point goals: White Plains 6 (Baker 2, Wilson 2, Senciboy 2); Tenn. Christian 3 (C. Botts, Hodge, B. Botts). Total fouls: White Plains 15, Tenn. Christian 12.
Plainview Tournament
RAINSVILLE – When a team is missing its top player of course it’s going to have a hard time of it.
That was the case for Anniston as the Bulldogs were without guard Antonio (Spoodie) Kite and fell to host Plainview 72-47.
Kite missed for violating a team rule and his absence was noticed, although it’s doubtful there was much the Bulldogs could have done about Plainview’s 15 3-pointers. The Bears scored almost as many points from behind the arc as the Bulldogs did the entire game. Jonah Williams hit seven of their 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 28 points.
Plainview hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter to put Anniston in a 17-4 hole and the Bulldogs played catch-up the rest of the night. Kwame Milton and Mark Toyer tried to pick up their scoring slack, going for 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Kite will be back on the floor Tuesday when the Bulldogs play Hamilton, Anniston coach Torry Brown said.
ANNISTON – Mark Toyer 5 2-3 15, Kwame Milton 7 0-0 16, Alex Teagues 0 2-2 2, Tahj Jones 0 0-0 0, Tadyn Jones 0 0-0 0, Malcom Harvey 3 0-0 6, Jakobe Collins 1 0-0 2, Tray Hall 3 0-0 6. Totals 19 4-5 47.
PLAINVIEW – Tristan Willingham 6 0-0 15, Cole Millican 3 0-0 8, Bryce Luther 1 0-0 3, Olan Smith 3 4-4 10, Jonah Williams 9 3-3 28, Grant Sanders 2 0-0 6, Jacob Henderson 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 7-7 72.
Anniston 4 20 12 11 – 47
Plainview 17 23 18 14 – 72
3-point goals: Anniston 5 (Toyer 3, Milton 2); Plainview 15 (Willingham 3, Millican 2, Luther, Williams 7, Sanders 2). Total fouls: Anniston 12, Plainview 7. Officials: Aldridge, Battles, Ingram.
Regular season
Pleasant Valley 72, Gaston 47
GASTON – It took a little while for the Raiders to get going, but once they did they pulled away. The Raiders erupted for 54 points in the middle two quarters to rally from a five-point deficit. Coleman Haynes had 13 of his 16 in the two quarters, Garrett Cranmer had 11 of his 16 then, and Josh Ballew crammed all 14 of his points into it.
PLEASANT VALLEY – Josh Ballew 6 1-2 14, Garrett Cranmer 4 7-8 16, Coleman Haynes 6 3-6 16, Jamie Winningham 4 0-4 8, Damon Parr 3 0-0 6, Jake Malsy 1 0-0 2, Brody Phillips 1 2-2 4, Wyatt Ingram 1 0-1 2, Jake Upton 1 0-0 2, Trent Findley 1 0-2 2. Totals 28 13-25 72.
GASTON – William Bagley 3 0-0 6, Nicolas Lewis 7 2-12 15, Jeremiah Dupree 0 0-0 0, Rickey Moore 0 0-0 0, Kendall Blackwell 5 3-7 13, William Bagley 0 0-0 0, Brett Scott 2 2-2 8, Mason Gilbert 0 0-0 0, Jayden Dupree 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 8-23 47.
Pleasant Valley 14 28 26 4 – 72
Gaston 19 10 11 7 – 47
3-point goals: PV 3 (Ballew, Cranmer, Haynes); Gaston 3 (Lewis, Scott 2). Technical fouls: Ja. Dupree. Total fouls: PV 22, Gaston 22.
Faith Christian 63, Donoho 50
C.J. Gomez scored 11 of his team-high 17 points in the first half and Jacques Prater scored 10 of his 14 in the fourth – seven from the foul line – as Faith Christian won its area opener while spoiling the head coaching debut of Donoho’s Korielle Beavers.
The Lions jumped out to an 18-9 lead and were never headed. Ethan Richerzhaugen added 15 for the Faith, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter to keep Donoho at bay.
“We didn’t play our greatest game,” Faith coach Justin Kisor said, “but we hit some big shots down the stretch and I thought we did a pretty good job on (Donoho’s Amari) Smedley, a great player. For the majority of my guys it was their first area game. That’s a big win. Any time you go on the road and win it’s huge, but I thought we could definitely play a whole lot better.”
Beavers was making his coaching debut after five years as the JV coach at Faith, taking the spot when Jeremy Satcher left to become a graduate assistant in Jacksonville State’s football program. Smedley and Brady Jones had 18 and 17 points, respectively, for the Falcons.
“We haven’t been together much,” Beavers said. “We’re just trying to get chemistry going, understand the process. It’s going to take time. I saw flashes where we can operate offensively like we want to once we do start trusting each other. I told them you just have to keep grinding.”
FAITH CHRISTIAN – C.J. Gomez 7 3-9 17, Nicholas Goodgame 3 0-0 6, Ethan Richerzhaugen 5 3-4 15, Andrew Huie 0 0-0 0, Brodie Dodson 3 0-0 9, Charles Gibbins 0 0-0 0, Jacques Prater 2 8-13 14, Dalton Rogers 1 0-0 2, Damian Arevalo 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 14-26 63.
DONOHO – Grant Steed 1 1-2 3, Amari Smedley 7 4-11 18, Dean Harrell 2 0-0 4, Reid Williamon 1 0-0 2, Drew Williamson 2 1-2 6, Brady Jones 7 3-7 17. Totals 20 9-22 50.
Faith Christian 18 15 12 18 – 63
Donoho 9 13 11 17 – 50
3-point goals: Faith 7 (Richerzhaugen 2, Dodson 3, Prater 2); Donoho 1 (Williamson). Fouled out: Steed, Williamson. Total fouls: Faith 19, Donoho 19. Officials: Ware, Wright, Shaw.
TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE
Alexandria at Munford
Beauregard at Handley
Cedar Bluff at Jacksonville Christian
Donoho at Cleburne County
Faith Christian at Sand Rock
Southside at Glencoe
Winterboro at Childersburg
Coach T Classic, Chattanooga
Tennessee Christian vs. Calvary Day (N.C.), 5 p.m.
White Plains at Boyd Buchanan, 6:30 p.m.
Coy Smith Thanksgiving Tournament, Ashville
Vincent at Ashville, 4:30 p.m.
Jacksonville vs. Ragland, 7:30 p.m.
Heritage Classic, Fairfield HS
Oxford vs. Huffman, 4:30 p.m.
Liberty Bank Thanksgiving Shootout, Geraldine
Cherokee County vs. Sardis, 11:30 a.m.
Marble City Classic, Sylacauga
Lincoln at B.B. Comer
Prattville Christian at Sylacauga
Plainview Thanksgiving Tournament
Anniston vs. Hamilton, 5:30 p.m.
Hewitt-Trussville at Plainview, 7 p.m.
Spartan Turkey Jam, Mountain Brook
Sacred Heart vs. Gadsden City, 1:30 p.m.
Carver vs. Greenville, 4:30 p.m.
Greensboro vs. Haleyville, 5:30 p.m. (HS)
Championship: Hillcrest at Mountain Brook, 7:30 p.m.
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