Back at it
- Updated: December 28, 2020
Boys roundup: Jacksonville wins after three-week break, Oxford rallies past Buckhorn, Faith makes a point in loss
Monday’s boys scores
Springville Invitational
Springville 58, Piedmont 38
Heflin Holiday Hoops Tournament
Jacksonville 74, Ranburne 54
Rome (Ga.) 70, Cleburne County 26
Spring Garden 59, Vincent 46
First State Bank Shootout, Rainsville
Oxford 70, Buckhorn 64
Albertville 61, Darlington (Ga.) 41
Elkmont at Plainview
Greater Gadsden Christmas Classic
(At Gadsden City HS)
Southside 51, Glencoe 40
Westbrook Christian 59, Hokes Bluff 54
Etowah 90, Gaston 38
Gadsden City 97, Coosa Christian 30
Hilburn-Patterson Haralson County (Ga.) Invitational
Sonoraville 50, Cedartown 43
Bowdon 98, Faith Christian 75
North Murray 62, Bremen 31
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
HEFLIN — Cordell Hunt was so glad to be back on the basketball court.
After not playing or practicing since Dec. 8, the Jacksonville basketball coach was just glad to be playing a game.
He got what he expected. The Golden Eagles looked in some areas like a team that was just getting back at it but they were athletic enough to overcome any shortcomings and ran past Ranburne 74-54 in the Heflin Holiday Hoops Tournament Monday.
“It was really like starting over,” Hunt said. “We ran our most basic offense. Defensively we tried to do some different stuff, but we just didn’t know it. Still, I am happy we got to play games.”
The Golden Eagles hadn’t done anything together basketball-wise since playing Cherokee County Dec. 8. The next day the school went virtual and, per policy, shuttered all extracurricular activities.
Hunt figured he’d be home making pancakes and suspected many of the players would still be in the bed Monday at their 10:30 a.m. tip time if the lockdown hadn’t been lifted.
During the lockdown, some Jacksonville players, like Monday’s leading scorer Cam Johnson (21 points), went to various gyms to get some shots up, but there was nothing formal team-wise.
“I was going to hoop, to work harder to get myself prepared for this game,” Johnson said.
The Golden Eagles took control with a 14-0 run (eight by Johnson) in the first quarter and they went on a 13-1 in the fourth quarter when a lesser conditioned team may have fatigued under the circumstance after the Bulldogs closed to within eight.
‘I think it went well,” Quin Long said. “It was good getting our legs back up under us; that was the main thing. I thought we’d be a little rusty, but once you get into the flow you come back to basketball.”
Now they’re looking to play more. Any team, anytime, anywhere. They almost had a game with former coach Ryan Chambless’ Rome (Ga.) team on Wednesday, but transportation issues scuttled the game.
“I’ll play the L.A. Clippers right now if it’ll get us another game,’ Hunt said. “We’ve got to treat every game like it’s our last now. From now on every game could be our last game.”
Rome rolls in Heflin opener with familiar face at helm
Marcus Herbert came back to the area with a new team and new players. One thing that wasn’t new was the feeling winning gives you.
Herbert, the former Weaver head coach, stepped in for COVID-quarantined Rome head coach Ryan Chambless Monday and directed the Wolves to a 70-26 win over host Cleburne County in the Heflin Holiday Hoops Tournament.
Herbert coached Weaver for two years as an hourly employee in the Calhoun County Schools, but lost his spot when the board mandated all their coaches be certified teachers. He’s four months shy of graduating and said May “couldn’t get here fast enough.”
He got back in coaching when Chambless, most recently the Pleasant Valley head coach, brought him on as his Rome assistant. Chambless was looking forward to bringing the Wolves to one of his old coaching stops (he was at Cleburne County for a year), but had to leave it with Herbert after coming down with COVID last week.
“He told me he had trust and faith in me and he had my back,” Herbert said. “The things we do aren’t anything different. It felt good to be in the driver’s seat today.”
The Wolves made things easier on their coach, jumping out to a 21-0 lead that was 24-4 at quarter’s end. It was 42-10 at halftime. Leading scorer Jamerius McDermont scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half.
“The boys played hard,” Herbert said. “I think our whole team from the first guy to the last guy all contributed in a special way and that’s what we want to see going forward. “
Jacksonville 74, Ranburne 54
JACKSONVILLE (4-4) – Cam Johnson 9-14 3-4 21, Quinn Long 6-13 1-2 13, Caden Johnson 4-5 0-2 10, John Broom 3-7 3-4 9, Omarion Adams 4-5 0-0 8, Nathan Barnwell 3-6 1-1 7, Jaylon Prater 1-3 0-0 2, Coby Zackery 1-3 0-0 2, JaeTaj Morris 1-1 0-0 2, Julian Hill 0-1 0-0 0, Ethan Duke 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 32-60 8-13 74.
RANBURNE (3-6) – Gary McMahan 5-13 0-0 14, Colby Hanson 5-11 0-0 13, Tyler Craft 5-8 2-4 12, Ben Jackson 3=9 0-2 6, Carson Riddle 2-4 0-0 4, Will Hewitt 1-4 0-0 2, Cade Mitchell 1-1 0-0 2, Truett Ward 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 2-6 54.
Jacksonville 26 12 17 19 – 74
Ranburne 14 15 15 10 – 54
3-point goals: Jacksonville 2-5 (Cd. Johnson 2-3, Broom 0-2); Ranburne 8-26 (McMahan 4-12, Hanson 3-6, Craft 0-1, Jackson 0-1, Riddle 0-2, Hewitt 1-4). Rebounds: Jacksonville 47 (Cm. Johnson 7, Barnwell 7); Ranburne 18 (Craft 8). Total fouls: Jacksonville 8, Ranburne 12. Officials: Tidwell, Hinkle, Ratliff.
Rome 70, Cleburne County 26
ROME (4-3) – Cam Keith 1 2-2 4, Jamerius McDermont 6 2-2 16, Jaquan Nelson 3 0-0 8, Tyson Warren 0 0-0 0, Jay Wise 3 2-4 8, E.J. Holland 2 0-0 5, Braxton Wade 2 2-2 6, Martel Hight 1 2-2 4, Mason Tillery 3 0-3 6, Justyn Smith 5 3-4 13. Totals 26 13-19 70.
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Rico Jordan 2 0-0 5, Brody Higgins 0 0-0 0, Kyle Downey 2 4-4 8, Manney Rollins 0 0-0 0, Jackson Miller 1 0-0 3, Grant Harcrow 0 0-0 0, Trey Brown 1 2-2 4, Dee Prothro 2 0-0 4, J.J. Cosby 1 0-2 2. Totals 9 6-8 26.
Rome 24 18 14 14 – 70
Cleburne County 4 6 10 6 – 26
3-point goals: Rome 5 (McDermont 2, Nelson 2, Holland); Cleburne County 2 (Jordan, Miller). Total fouls: Rome 9, Cleburne County 16.
Haralson County Invitational
Lions roar in loss
TALLAPOOSA, Ga. – Faith Christian came to this tournament looking to make a name for itself. The Lions may have lost their tournament opener to Bowdon 98-75, but they left the gym feeling like they accomplished something.
This is a team that has struggled to get out of the 50s, but on this night they enjoyed their most prolific scoring night of the season.
“If you look at our scores, it’s 50, 50, 50 every time, so we’re trying to get higher than that,” Lions junior Ethan Richerzhagen said. “We’re trying to prove something in this tournament, that we’re not a scrub team. We lost today, but we moved the ball well and … we got what we needed to get done.”
The Lions had 65 points through three quarters and kept up with a team that had scored 98 points for the fourth time this season. The Red Devils (10-1) would have finally broken 100 if Jared Spotts had been a split-second quicker with his half-court 3-pointer that swished but did not count.
The lead changed hands eight times in the first half. Bowdon finally took control of the game at the start of the fourth quarter with Richerzhagen out of the game catching his breath after taking a ball off his body underneath the basket. The Red Devils scored the first 12 points of the quarter in that stretch after the Lions closed to within six.
Richerzhagen did all he could to get the Lions out of their scoring slump. He scored 30 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. He had 15 points in the second quarter. Thomas Curlee had 19 points and Jacques Prater had 11 points and five assists. Bowdon’s A.J. Johnson led all scorers with 31 points.
“I think the JCA game helped us wake up,” Richerzhagen said, referring to the Lions’ 72-42 loss in their last game. “We talked about it at practice. We’ve just got to score more than 50. We’ve got to set records, try to get 60, 70, 80. Today we had 60, 70 in our heads.
“We’re trying to make a stand in this tournament to help us in county and the second half of the season. We definitely got positive energy going for the rest of the season.”
Bowdon 98, Faith Christian 75
FAITH – Nic Goodgame 4 0-0 8, Jacques Prater 3 3-4 11, Thomas Curlee 7 3-5 19, Ethan Richerzhagen 12 3-5 30, Brody Dodson 0 0-0 0, Yashua Arvalo 2 3-3 7, Andrew Folsom 0 0-0 0, Seth Abston 0 0-0 0, Colton Pahman 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 12-17 75.
BOWDON (10-1) – Andrew Hopson 5 0-0 10, Andrew Messer 3 0-0 7, Kirequs Vaughn 6 1-1 13, Tray Wyatt 2 1-3 7, A.J. Johnson 12 2-2 31, Jalani McDaniel 1 1-2 3, Jacob Funderburker 0 0-0 0, Jared Spotts 0 0-0 0, Rett Thomas 1 0-2 2, Seth Farmer 8 1-2 17, Kolton Drummond 2 2-2 8. Totals 40 8-14 98.
Faith 22 21 23 9 – 75
Bowdon 25 26 21 26 – 98
3-point goals: Faith 7 (Prater 2, Curlee 2, Richerzhagen 3); Bowdon 10 (Messer, Wyatt 2, Johnson 5, Drummond 2). Fouled out: Arevalo. Total fouls: Faith 13, Bowdon 16.
First State Bank Shootout
RAINSVILLE – Justin Moore scored eight of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and 16 in the second half as Oxford rallied to edge Buckhorn 70-64. The Yellow Jackets (12-2) trailed by five at halftime.
Jalon Chapman and Carter Malires both scored nine in the first half for Buckhorn. Maliers’ points came on three 3-pointers.
Oxford 70, Buckhorn 64
OXFORD (12-2) – Avelon Bush 3 1-2 8, Cordell Chatman 3 4-5 10, Rylan Houck 5 2-6 12, Mike McGraw 0 0-0 0, Roc Taylor 2 0-0 4, Bakari Dailey 0 0-0 0, Justin Moore 11 4-7 27, Josh Patton 2 2-2 7. Totals 26 15-24 70.
BUCKHORN – Cameron Jamar 0 0-0 0, Julian Bradford 0 0-0 0, Alexander Garcia 5 5-6 16, Trenton Barnes 2 0-0 4, Kyler Douglass 0 0-0 0, Carter Malires 3 0-0 9, Dewayne Harris 1 0-0 2, Nylan Thomas 6 2-2 17, Tyler Engle 1 0-0 3, Jalon Chapman 3 7-10 13. Totals 21 14-18 64.
Oxford 16 14 19 21 – 70
Buckhorn 18 17 12 17 – 64
3-point goals: Oxford 3 (Bush, Moore, Patton); Buckhorn 8 (Garcia, Malires 3, Thomas 3, Engle). Fouled out: Houck. Total fouls: Oxford 16, Buckhorn 19.
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