Wildcats stun No. 1
- Updated: January 30, 2020
Boys roundup: Wilson’s FTs with 3.7 seconds left lifts Wildcats over Piedmont; Faith, Gomez have record night, Ohatchee’s Pesnell stays hot and more
Thursday’s boys scores
Alexandria 74, Jacksonville 62
Anniston 60, Clay Central 49
ASD 57, Fayetteville 51
Faith Christian 100, Gaylesville 45
Glencoe 42, Southside 36
Handley 79, Talladega 71
Jacksonville Christian 96, Gaston 49
Mount Zion at Ranburne
Ohatchee 64, Ashville 53
Pell City at Munford
Pleasant Valley 81, Cleburne County 74
Wellborn at West End
Westbrook Christian 77, Weaver 37
White Plains 64, Piedmont 63
By Gregory Kirby
Special to East Alabama Sports Today
White Plains and close games haven’t exactly been a marriage made in heaven in recent years, but when the Wildcats do pull one out it usually hits like a tsunami.
The Wildcats rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit Thursday and Quin Wilson hit two free throws with 3.7 seconds left to beat Piedmont 64-63 on Senior Night less than 24 hours after the Bulldogs were installed as the new No. 1 in the state Class 3A boys basketball rankings.
Brody Baker led the unranked Wildcats (19-11) with a Kobe Bryant/Mamba mentality-inspired 24 points. Piedmont’s Silas Thompson led all scorers with 26. Teammate Alex Odam had 20 points, six assists and five steals.
The Bulldogs led 33-23 at halftime, but it was White Plains’ strategy to win the first four minutes of the third quarter and go from there. The Wildcats did just that with a couple 3-pointers by Quin and Garrett Wilson, then tied it at the end of the third quarter 47-47 on two technical free throws after Odam hit a shot from midcourt to put the Bulldogs up 47-45.
“That little stretch right there at the end could have been a backbreaker,” White Plains coach Chris Randall said, “but because we had the technical we were able to make the two free throws and get the ball back and it kind of calmed everybody so now we’re back tied with the ball.”
Thompson converted a one-and-one with 17.7 seconds left to put the Bulldogs (21-4) ahead 63-62. Wilson was fouled and dropped his two free throws to put White Plains ahead. Randall called time with the belief the ever-dangerous Odam would get the ball in an otherwise scramble situation and somebody other than Odam was going to get it off a set play. It went Thompson and he missed a contested potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
“There was a whole lot of pressure (on the free throws),” Wilson said. “I just turned the ball over so I was kind of down on myself. My teammates kept telling me to knock down the shots and they went in.”
The Wildcats had never played the No. 1 team in the state before as far as coach Randall could tell, so beating one was definitely a new experience. They lost to the Bulldogs in their first matchup of the season 53-48 the day after White Plains was installed as the No. 3 seed (to Piedmont’s 6) in the Calhoun County Tournament seeding meeting and beat them as recently as Jan. 21 54-51 in the county tournament quarterfinals.
Put the three-game series together and Piedmont outscored White Plains a total of 167 to 166, while White Plains won two of the three games.
“We just knew we had it,” Baker said. “When we came out in the third quarter we busted them in the mouth the first four minutes and just kept our composure while they were all celebrating. We just carried it out and got the dub; kept the zero at home.”
Piedmont coach JoJo Odam discounted the lofty ranking having any impact on the way his team played in the game.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “We don’t put a lot into the rankings; it doesn’t mean anything right now. Get a win on the court. Those guys did a a good job.”
The win allowed the Wildcats to compete their regular season undefeated at home (9-0). They could play one more home game if they win their area tournament next week at Jacksonville. Their last three losses at home were by 1, 3 and 1 points.
“It felt good to hold the zero at home; it means a lot to do that for (seniors) Rico (Aguire) and Coleman (Messer),” Wilson said. “Coleman and Rico have done a lot for our program and it means a lot to send them out with this zero. The fans were behind us, it felt good, and I felt like we knew we were going to get the dub.”
“It’s always been special to play at this place with the crowd and the atmosphere and the tradition,” Randall said. “We just feel like if we can hold serve at home then we’ll have a chance to host the area. Undefeated at a home, host the area. We lost at Cherokee County, so we didn’t get to host the area, but we did go undefeated at home.”
White Plains 64, Piedmont 63
PIEDMONT (21-4) – Alex Odam 7 2-3 20, Omarion Foster 1 0-0 2, Luke Bussey 1 0-0 2, Trey McFarland 2 0-0 6, Silas Thompson 9 3-4 26, Jack Hayes 0 1-2 1, Malachi Jackson 1 0-0 2, Jakari Foster 1 2-2 4. Totals 22 8-11 63.
WHITE PLAINS (19-11) – Coleman Messer 1 0-0 2, Rico Aguire 0 0-0 0, Quin Wilson 2 2-2 7, Jaden Chatman 2 2-3 6, Jacob Wheeler 2 7-8 12, Brody Baker 6 10-13 24, Walker O’Steen 3 0-0 7, Kahlil Williams 0 1-2 1, Garrett Wilson 2 0-0 5. Totals 18 22-28 64.
Piedmont 10 23 14 16 – 63
White Plains 11 12 22 19 – 64
3-point goals: Piedmont 11 (Odam 4, McFarland 2, Thompson 5); White Plains 6 (Q. Wilson, Wheeler, Baker 2, O’Steen, G. Wilson). Technical fouls: J. Foster. Total fouls: Piedmont 19, White Plains 12.
Faith Christian 100, Gaylesville 45: C.J. Gomez won’t soon forget his Senior Night. He set the Faith school record with 48 points on a night the Lions set the school record for points in a game. He had 34 points at halftime.
“He was amazing,” Faith coach Justin Kisor said. “I’d bet he had 15 rebounds, too, to go along with it. It was crazy.”
The previous individual record was 42 points by Malcolm Carlisle. The previous single-game team high was 93.
Senior Josh Rutledge added 12 points on four 3-pointers. Kisor even gave injured senior Charles Gibbins a chance for one last start and set up a play for him early in the game. Gibbins, who hurt his knee in the fall, missed his shot from the corner and came out of the game a short while later.
Jacksonville Christian 96, Gaston 49: Chase Vinson had 24 points and 5 rebounds to lead the Thunder (19-5). Kobe Messer scored 29 points and Brady Shaddix recorded 12 assists. Nash Messer had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. JCA scored 40 points in the first quarter and 35 in the third.
Ohatchee 64, Ashville 53: Trey Pesnell continues to shine for Indians, scoring 25 points. It was his sixth straight game scoring in double figures and seventh in the last eight. Pesnell scored his first 10 points in the second quarter as the Indians opened a 31-16 halftime lead and had 11 in the third when they stretched it to 52-30.
ASHVILLE – Daniel Welch 7 0-0 19, J-Brelin Cook 2 0-0 5, Jerry Morphis 1 0-0 2, Chandler McGinnis 0 0-2 0, Cesar Segura 0 4-4 4, Jonah Carden 2 0-0 6, Ashton Vann 5 0-1 12, Gabriel Sawyer 1 0-0 3, Landon Vann 1 0-0 2, Elijah Turner 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 4-7 53.
OHATCHEE – Blake Hollis 0 0-0 0, Domonique Thomas 3 0-0 6, Trey Pesnell 9 3-3, Cam Foushee 2 2-2 8, Jacob Bowers 1 2-2 4, Jared McFall 1 0-1 2, Austin Wyatt 5 0-0 10, Briley Hale 4 1-1 9. Totals 25 8-9 64.
Ashville 9 7 14 23 – 53
Ohatchee 12 19 21 12 – 64
3-point goals: Ashville 11 (Welch 5, Cook, Carden 2, Vann 2, Sawyer); Ohatchee 6 (Pesnell 4, Foushee 2). Total fouls: Ashville 12, Ohatchee 13. Officials: Hollingsworth, Ballyeu, Hall.
Pleasant Valley 81, Cleburne County 74. Josh Ballew scored 25 and Garrett Cranmer had 20 as the Raiders (12-13) moved within one game of a .500 regular season with one to play. Reese Morrison scored 33 for Cleburne County.
“I think we’ve improved a lot this year as a team,” PV coach Ryan Chambless said. “We’ve played a lot of good competition and to finish at .500 would be an improvement from previous seasons. The guys are working really hard to improve here.”
Westbrook Christian 77, Weaver 37: Bearcats outscored 36-10 in third quarter. Grayason Wright and Christian Moore had 16 and 15, respectively, for Westbrook. Tristian Brown led Weaver with 15 points.
WEAVER – Briley Carter 1 0-0 2, Kohl Perry 2 0-0 4, Austin Bryant 0 2-4 2, Armaane Burton 3 2-4 9, Taylor Thompson 1 3-5 5, Tristian Brown 6 3-5 15. Totals 13 10-18 37.
WESTBROOK – William Lockridge 3 0-0 8, Phillip Pirani 3 1-1 6, James Martin 3 0-0 8, Brandon Foster 1 0-0 2, Joseph Gilchrist 3 0-0 8,
Joe Tucker 4 1-2 10, Bryce Wood 0 0-0 0, John Phillips 6 0-1 12, Grayson Wright 7 1-2 16, Christian Morris 7 1-2 15, Charles Sizemore 9 1-2 1. Totals 32 4-8 77
Weaver 14 7 10 6 – 37
Westbrook 18 10 36 13 – 77
3-point goals: Weaver 1 (Burton); Westbrook 10 (Lockridge 2, Pirani, Martin 2, Gilchrist 2, Tucker, Morry 2.) Total fouls: Weaver 8, Westbrook 10.
Handley 79, Talladega 71: Talladega dropped its second game since winning the Talladega County Tournament despite 33 points and 12 rebounds from Kobe Simmons. D’Corian Wilson had 22 for the Tigers.
TALLADEGA – Nigel Scales 1 1-2 3, Jay Spratling 1 0-0 3, Arron Green 2 1-2 6, Michael McGregor 1 0-0 2, Rontavious Barclay 1 0-0 2, D’Corian Wilson 7 6-9 22, Raderius Montgomery 0 0-0 0, Kobe Simmons 12 7-11 33. Totals 25 15-24 71.
HANDLEY – Devontae Houston 2 0-0 4, Graham Martin 5 6-9 18, Thomas McCray 0 0-0 0, Jalen Herren 0 0-0 0, Josh Smith 4 3-3 11, Dylan Brooks 8 2-4 18, Corey Bell 10 3-9 28. Totals 29 14-25 79
Talladega 16 22 14 19 – 71
Handley 19 19 24 17 – 79
3-point goals: Talladega 6 (Spratling, Green, Wilson 2, Simmons 2); Handley 7 (Bell 5, Martin 2). Technical fouls: Green. Fouled out: Wilson. Total fouls: Talladega 21 Handley 17.
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