Trey shows ’em
- Updated: January 28, 2020
Ohatchee guard continues to impress as a scorer, even if it didn’t get him recognized at the county tournament; goes for 23 in win over Pleasant Valley
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
OHATCHEE – Trey Pesnell is too humble a kid to let something like not being picked to the oversized All-Tournament Team in the Calhoun County Tournament bother him, but there were plenty of adults in the audience who felt for him.
The Ohatchee junior guard was the only player among the top 15 scorers in the tournament who didn’t make the 15-man All-Tournament boys team last week.
All he did was tie for the sixth-best single-game outing in the tournament (a career-high 25 against Donoho), tie for the seventh-most points overall (43 in two games) and tie for the third-most 3-pointers. He also tied for the tenth best free throw percentage.
Yet when the honorees were called to midcourt at the conclusion of the tournament – with him in stands because he wanted to watch the championship game – Pesnell was not among them.
While he thought he played “pretty good offensively and could’ve played better on defense” in the tournament, he said being overlooked didn’t bother him. He’s just kept going about his business, which Tuesday night, in his second game since, amounted to scoring 23 points, hitting a pair of 3 and grabbing three rebounds in the Indians’ 63-51 victory over rival Pleasant Valley.
“I don’t really pay attention to the awards and stuff,” he said. “I don’t really care about the personal awards and scoring and stuff. I play for the team.”
Ohatchee coach Bryant Ginn took up for his player, though.
“I was mad,” he said. “Trey ain’t a selfish kid, but I was very upset. He goes for 25, okay Donoho, but then he goes for 18 against Scared Heart. My frustration of how we do it is if those guys don’t come to our games they don’t see that. I know you had a list to help people out, but if they don’t come to our games they don’t see it and then it’s just oh well it’s (picking) so and so and so and so.
“I thought he was one of the top 15 players in the tournament. I texted him and told him I thought you deserved it. I don’t know what to say to console you but you’re all-county tournament team in my eyes. The bad part is he scored in the top 15, but his defense is up there. He plays the whole darned game with no foul trouble. That was tough.”
The games Pesnell had in the county tournament and since have been just a continuation of the scoring machine he has become in the second half of the season and, as Ginn said, “finding ways to affect the game.”
In the 11 games since breaking out with a then-career high 16 points and four 3-pointers against the host team in the Cleburne County Christmas Classic he has averaged 14.1 points a game. He has scored in double figures in each of his last five games (89 points) and six of the last seven (averaging 16.1 in the stretch).
If you’re not careful, you might mistake him for that other red-headed scoring machine in the county, something Ginn playfully did as he set in to watch the tournament title game.
“We were sitting kind of close and he was walking up the steps and said, ‘You didn’t save me a seat?’” the coach recalled. “(Piedmont freshman Alex) Odam was sitting next to me and I said I thought you were sitting next to me.”
Pesnell had a lot more motivation that any perceived all-star snub to want to do well Tuesday night. Like he said, he’s about winning games.
“They came out the first game and beat us bad, so coming into this one we came in looking for revenge, honestly,” he said of the Raiders. “We ain’t going to let them do that to us twice in front of our home fans.”
Pesnell wasn’t the only big scorer the Indians had in the game. Austin Wyatt went for 15 points and combined with Briley Hale to give the Indians a post presence that combined for 22 points and 16 rebounds. Domonique Thomas had 12 points anad seven rebounds.
“Austin’s got that capability, he’s done it this year, a lot of it is just him having that confidence to go in and dominate,” Ginn said. “He’s so long and he’s so tall, but he’s shown that in flashes this year in games. We need Austin to play like that. It’s big when Austin plays like that, him and Briley. Now we’re pretty good in the post and it’s tough for anybody to double off anybody.”
Josh Ballew led Pleasant Valley with 19 points. Garrett Cranmer had 10 points and eight rebounds. The Raiders struggled out of the gate and fell behind by as many as 15 in the second quarter. They were much more inspired in the second half and got within 39-35 midway through the third quarter.
From there the Ohatchee posts went to work, scored the next six points and the Indians stayed comfortably ahead the rest of the game.
Ohatchee 63, Pleasant Valley 51
PLEASANT VALLEY – Jake Malsy 4 0-0 9, Josh Ballew 6 5-5 19, Ollie Young 1 0-0 2, Brody Phillips 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Ingram 0 0-0 0, Coleman Haynes 4 0-0 8, Garrett Cranmer 4 2-2 10, Dmaon Parr 1 1-2 3, Justin Winningham 0 0-2 0. Totals 20 8-11 51.
OHATCHEE – Blake Hollis 1 0-0 2, Domonique Thomas 3 5-10 12, Trey Pesnell 9 3-8 23, Cam Foushee 1 2-2 4, Jacob Bowers 0 0-0 0, Jared McFall 0 0-0 0, Austin Wyatt 7 1-5 15, Briley Hale 2 3-9 7. Totals 23 14-34 63.
Pleasant Valley 14 12 13 12 – 51
Ohatchee 17 20 12 14 – 63
3-point goals: Pleasant Valley 3 (Malsy, Ballew 2); Ohatchee 3 (Thomas, Pesnell 2). Fouled out: Ballew. Total fouls: Pleasant Valley 20, Ohatchee 13. Officials: Pratt, McElreeth, Young.
Cover photo of Ohatchee guard Trey Pesnell in an earlier game against Westbrook Christian by Beverly Wright.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login