Roc delivers
- Updated: December 1, 2020
Boys roundup: Taylor delivers game-winner for Oxford in first game back from football; Wheeler breaks out for White Plains, and more
Tuesday’s games
Cleburne County 50, Wellborn 18
Jacksonville 73, Alexandria 66
Oxford 47, Hoover 45
White Plains 63, Ranburne 37
By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD – The Hoover Bucs may want to rethink their plans to come into Calhoun County to play basketball any time soon. The Bucs have come here twice this season to play the county’s best and it hasn’t turned out well for them.
Roc Taylor’s layup with 18 seconds left and Rylan Houck’s steal with two seconds to play lifted Oxford over the Bucs 47-45 Tuesday night in what could only be described as a defensive battle.
Taylor’s bucket put the Yellow Jackets (5-2) ahead, but Hoover still had time to mount a winning possession. But the Jackets played good defense. The Bucs (4-2) got confused and Houck stole it back to run out the clock.
It’s the second time this season the Bucs lost a game in Calhoun County in the closing seconds. They left Anniston two weeks ago with a two-point loss after their last-second 3-pointer didn’t beat the final horn.
Oxford got eight first-half points from Houck and nine from Justin Moore to take a 26-21 lead into halftime.
The taller Bucs were tough to go inside, so the Jackets’ press enabled them to beat the Bucs down the floor for layups. The Oxford defense allowed only eight field goals in the first half.
Hoover came on much stronger on defense in the second half and began pounding it inside on offense. The Bucs pulled ahead 41-36 at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run.
Peyton Watts nailed a 3-pointer, Houck got a layup and Taylor put back a rebound to tie the game at 43. Avelon Bush’s layup tied it at 45, but down the stretch the Jackets came up empty on five straight possessions that could have given them the lead.
Finally, they got it inside to Taylor, who had slipped behind the defense with 18 seconds left, to give Oxford the lead.
Hoover was unable to get off a final shot with Houck stealing it away with two seconds left.
For Taylor, it was his first game of the year after football and he played about half the game, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds. Houck had 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals, one of which he finished with a thunderous dunk. Moore added 13 points and five rebounds.
Hoover’s Chip Culpepper led all scorers with 16 points.
“It was one heck of a team effort out there tonight,” Oxford coach Joel VanMeter said. “We’ve got a lot of good players and some should get more playing time, but we stayed poised on offense and defense.
“We stayed patient on offense as they threw many different defenses on our offense. Our guys just played so well as a team.”
Oxford 47, Hoover 45
HOOVER (4-2) – D.J. Fairley 3 3-4 9, Chip Culpepper 6 4-8 16, Parker Williams 1 0-0 2, T.Q. Richardson 0 0-0 0, Brodin Grady 4 0-0 8, Christian Bryant 0 2-2 2, Austin Montgomery 2 0-3 4, Colby Carter 2 0-0 4. Totals 18 9-17 45.
OXFORD (5-2) – Avelon Bush 3 0-0 6, Cordell Chatman 1 0-0 2, Rylan Houck 5 2-3 12, Peyton Watts 1 0-0 3, Michael McGraw 0 0-0 0, Roc Taylor 5 0-0 10, Kyler Wright 0 1-1 1, Justin Moore 6 0-2 13, Zurrell Garrett 0 0-0 0, Jarek Burroughs 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 3-6 47.
Hoover 10 11 16 8 – 45
Oxford 10 16 8 13 – 47
3-point goals: Oxford 2 (Moore, Watts).
Wheeler breaks out
RANBURNE – Jacob Wheeler hit four of his five 3-pointers in the first quarter and scored 22 points to lead White Plains over Ranburne, 63-37.
The Wildcats hit 11 treys as a team, eight in the first half, as Quin Wilson hit three and Tucker Pearson, Landon Senciboy and Brody Baker hit one each. Wheeler scored 19 of his points in the first half. Wilson scored all nine of his points from beyond the arc.
White Plains 63, Ranburne 37
WHITE PLAINS – Tucker Pearson 1 0-0 3, Carson Wright 4 0-0 8, Quin Wilson 3 0-0 9, Jaden Chatman 0 0-0 0, Jacob Wheeler 7 3-3 22, Landon Senciboy 2 2-2 7, Brody Baker 2 1-2 6, Jesse Hubbard 0 0-0 0, Walker Osteen 1 0-0 2, Garrett Wilson 3 0-0 6. Totals 23 6-7 63.
RANBURNE – Will Hewitt 3 1-2 9, Ben Jackson 2 0-0 4, Tyler Craft 5 1-4 12, Colby Hanson 1 1-2 3, Gary McMahan 2 1-1 7, Carson Riddle 1 0-0 2, Mason Jackson 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 4-9 37.
White Plains 17 24 18 4 – 63
Ranburne 6 7 14 10 – 37
3-point goals: White Plains 11 (Pearson, Q. Wilson 3, Wheeler 5, Senciboy, Baker); Ranburne 5 (Hewitt 2, Craft, McMahan 2). Fouled out: Hubbard. Total fouls: White Plains 12, Ranburne 12. Officials: Burroughs, Taylor, Lackey.
Tigers tough on both ends
Cleburne County got balanced scoring on offense and held Wellborn scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the game on the way to a 50-18 victory over Wellborn that evened its record at 2-2.
Rico Jordan and Brody Higgins both scored 13 points and Ben Casey had 11 for the Tigers. They outscored Wellborn 18-0 in the first quarter rand continued to pitch a shutout until the Panthers scored with 5:44 left in the second quarter.
Cleburne County 50, Wellborn 18
CLEBURNE COUNTY (2-2) – Rico Jordan 3 5-6 13, Ben Casey 4 3-9 11, Brody Higgins 0 0-0 0, Kyle Downey 4 2-3 13, Manney Rollins 0 0-0 0, Hudson Miller 1 1-3 3, Grant Harcrow 1 2-2 4, Trey Brown 2 0-0 4, Dee Prothro 1 0-0 2, Seth Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 13-21 50.
WELLBORN (0-1) – Lewis Patterson 3 3-5 10, Messiah Moore 0 0-0 0, Nathan Sanders 0 0-0 0, Keyonte Curry 0 0-0 0, Braxton Layton 0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Scarbrough 0 0-0 0, Trey Davis 0 2-4 2, Zaybien Willis 0 0-0 0, Ethan Tidwell 3 0-3 6, Kameron Jackson 0 0-0 0. Totals 6 5-12 18.
Cleburne County 18 8 21 3 – 50
Wellborn 0 6 4 8 – 18
3-point goals: Cleburne County 5 (Jordan 2, Downey 3); Wellborn 1 (Patterson). Fouled out: Scarbrough. Total fouls: Cleburne County 11, Wellborn 18.
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