Falcons fly on Senior Night
- Updated: January 9, 2021
Boys roundup: Donoho erupts in second half to score its second win, Anniston suffers rare loss, Faith avenges earlier loss to JCA, and more
SATURDAY’S BOYS SCORES
Donoho 70, Coosa Christian 64
Faith Christian 54, Jacksonville Christian 49
Pleasant Valley 71, Ider 59
Ranburne 59, Randolph County 24
Talladega 72, Anniston 68
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Spencer Wigley had heard the halftime speech from coach Korielle Beavers’ so many times before, but on Saturday something about it sounded different.
Maybe it was because this was Senior Night and it meant a little more to a guy who found a home at Donoho to finish his high school career. Maybe it was because the Falcons were ready to flip the script after being so close to winning earlier this week. Maybe it’s because they had confidence having beaten Coosa Christian earlier this season.
Whatever the reason, the halftime talk spurred Wigley and sophomore Drew Williamson to a big second half that lifted the Falcons from an eight-point halftime deficit to a 70-64 victory that guarantees them a better record than the year before when won only one game.
“I just kept telling them what do we want to do,” Beavers said. “It’s about how much heart you’re going to put into it, how bad do you want it, how hard are you going to fight for it.
“That’s what’s going to determine wins and losses. It’s not so much Xs and Os. I can write it up all day, but if you don’t want it, it’s not going to happen.”
Wigley wanted it badly and with his coach’s words still fresh in his ears he came out of the halftime locker room inspired. He scored nine points of his 19 points in the third quarter, but it wasn’t so much the points as it was the effort Wigley put forth on both ends of the floor that Beavers said “inspired the whole group.”
“It’s the second half of the season and most teams are either improving or they’re staying behind,” Wigley said. “When we start out slow like this it’s time to step on the gas. The first two quarters are not our best, but we get in at halftime and he gives that speech – I said a couple words, everybody said a couple words – and we just got the energy back up.
“I told them it’s my Senior Night. I’ve been stressing it the whole week: y’all have another year. I want to give it all out and get as many wins as we can before County and get a good seeding in the area.”
After Wigley softened up the Conquerors in the third quarter, Williamson finished them off in the fourth. The point guard also scored nine points in the third, but he put the finishing touches on a 30-point night with 14 points in the fourth.
He had six in the Falcons’ 10-3 run that opened the quarter. Then, with Donoho leading 59-58 with 2:30 to play, he started the 9-0 flurry that sealed the win. He had a layup, two technical free throws and the assist on an Eric Tolson layup.
“The main goal in the fourth quarter was just to come back,” Williamson said. “We had been down most of the game and we just had to fight and come back and play good defense. We knew we had it in us and we just had to execute and that’s what we did. It was a great fourth quarter and a great comeback win. It felt amazing.”
Wigley and Williamson basically went head-to-head with Coosa’s Isiah Cole and Deontae Ford in the scoring column. Cole hit six 3-pointers and had 20 points. Ford, the second-leading scorer in Etowah County (17.6 ppg), had 30.
Donoho 70, Coosa Christian 64
COOSA CHRISTIAN – Kris Ash 2 1-4 5, Isiah Cole 7 0-0 20, Deontae Ford 8 13-16 30, J.D. Justus 0 0-0 0, Hunter Millirons 0 0-0 0, Caddon Moore 1 0-2 3, Hunter Price 0 0-0 0, Koby Roberts 1 0-0 2, Thomas Skaggs 2 0-3 4. Totals 21 14-25 64.
DONOHO – Spencer Wigley 6 6-6 19, Nick Goad 2 2-2 6, Conner Goodson 1 1-5 3, Brady Patterson 0 0-0 0, Ethan Miles-Jamison 0 2-4 2, Richard Goad 0 2-2 2, Eric Tolson 1 6-8 8, Jamal Musa 0 0-0 0, Drew Williamson 10 8-10 30, Garrett Steed 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 27-37
Coosa Christian 22 11 15 16 – 64
Donoho 12 13 22 23 – 70
3-point goals: Coosa Christian 8 (Cole 6, Ford, Moore); Donoho 3 (Wigley, Williamson 2). Technical fouls: Millirons, Donoho (admin). Fouled out: Tolson. Total fouls: Coosa Christian 25, Donoho 19.
TALLADEGA 72, ANNISTON 68: The Tigers handed Anniston just its second loss of the season, grabbing a four-point lead in the fourth quarter and holding onto it down the stretch despite repeated attempts by the Bulldogs to wrestle it away.
“You’d rather correct mistakes from a win, but we’ll probably learn more from this loss than we have from any win this season,” Anniston coach Torry Brown said.
With the Bulldogs fighting though some early foul trouble with its best defender and rebounder, Talladega pulled ahead in the second quarter to open a seven-point lead. The Bulldogs rallied in the third quarter to take the lead and it stayed close the rest of the way.
The fourth quarter followed a frustrating pattern for the Bulldogs. Talladega would be protecting a three-point lead, Anniston would cut it to one, the Tigers would score again, Anniston would miss on the next trip and then the Tigers would make a free throw.
“We played well in spurts, (but) I don’t think we played well for four quarters,” Brown said. “Their effort was a little better than ours tonight and that’s something we’ve got to fix.”
The Bulldogs’ other loss came to Thompson in Huntsville in a game less than 24 hours after they needed a fourth-quarter rally to win an intense area game at Handley. This loss wasn’t comparable, Brown said. For one thing, the Bulldogs beat Sipsey Valley at home Friday night.
“Sometimes a loss is a good thing and I think in this case a loss is a really good thing, especially getting so close to the county tournament because you want guys to go in and be a little hungry,” Brown said. “When you win so much you kind of take ‘em for granted.”
FAITH CHRISTIAN 54, JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN 49: Faith coach Schuessler Ware went with a rotation that got more players involved on the boards and it loosened things up for Ethan Richerzhagen as the Lions avenged an area loss to a team that beat them by 30 earlier this season.
Richerzhagen had 32 points and 11 rebounds.
He had 16 points when the teams played at Faith 3-1/2 weeks ago – they’re also first-round opponents in the upcoming County Tournament – but he had 14 in the first half Saturday. He had 11 in the fourth quarter to keep the Thunder at arm’s length.
“We were just trying to win,” Richerzhagen said. “The motivator was getting the area win and trying to get our record back even and looking better than it is right now.”
The Thunder hit 15 3-pointers in the first meeting. They had 10 Saturday, but didn’t have anyone to match the production of Richerzhagen.
The rotation Ware used in the game was designed to get more production from Andrew Folsom and Seth Abston on the boards. They gave the Lions some of what they were looking for and combined for 12 points.
Faith Christian 54, Jacksonville Christian 49
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Nic Goodgame 1 2-3 4, Jacque Prater 1 2-2 4, Thomas Curlee 1 0-0 2, Ethan Richerzhagen 12 4-5 32, Andrew Folsom 2 0-0 4, Seth Abston 4 0-0 8. Totals 21 8-10 54.
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN (8-3) – Tanner Wilson 4 1-2 13, Ethan Fair 3 0-0 9, Ethan Burrage 2 1-1 6, Tyler Doggrell 0 0-0 0, Tavian Alexander 3 1-2 7, Landon Wills 1 0-2 3, Drake Shew 0 2-4 2, Mason Johnson 2 0-1 5, Cam Moses 2 0-0 4, Brodie Clay 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 5-12 49.
Faith 16 10 11 17 – 54
JCA 13 10 8 18 – 49
3-point goals: Faith 4 (Richerzhagen 4); JCA 10 (Wilson 4, Fair 3, Burrage, Wills, Johnson). Total fouls: Faith 14, JCA 15.
PLEASANT VALLEY 71, IDER 59: Josh Ballew scored 23 of his game-high 27 points in the first half to help the Raiders grab control of the game and Kolby Battles scored nine of his 11 in the fourth quarter to Ider at bay. Ballew hit all four of his 3-pointers in the first half.
Pleasant Valley 71, Ider 59
IDER – Brodie Chapman 2 0-0 6, William King 1 0-0 3, Hunter Robinson 3 3-6 9, Drake Whisenant 4 3-3 15, Jeffery Shirley 3 0-0 7, Branson Durham 3 0-0 8, Jesse Massey 5 1-2 11, Cohen Willoughby 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 7-11 59.
PLEASANT VALLEY – Michael Glass 2 0-0 4, Garrett Cranmer 4 0-1 9, Josh Ballew 10 3-5 27, Oliver Young 0 2-2 2, Kolby Battles 5 1-2 11, Zeke Johnson 2 0-0 6, Pelham Parris 1 0-0 2, Justin Winningham 5 0-1 10. Totals 29 6-11 71.
Ider 18 13 7 21 – 59
Pleasant Valley 26 20 8 17 – 71
3-point goals: Ider 10 (Chapman 2, King, Whisenant 4, Shirley, Durham 2); Pleasant Valley 7 (Cranmer, Ballew 4, Johnson 2). Total fouls: Ider 12, Pleasant Valley 12. Officials: Lackey, Jarrett.
RANBURNE 59, RANDOLPH COUNTY 24: Tyler Craft scored 16 points and Colby Hanson scored all 11 of his points in the first half to lead the Bulldogs. Hanson had eight in the first quarter and Craft and Ben Jackson had six apiece as Ranburne raced out to a 25-4 lead.
Ranburne 59, Randolph County 24
RANDOLPH COUNTY – Gaven Caldwell 1 0-2 2, William Bain 0 0-0 0, Desmond Bragg 1 0-1 2, Sandavion Hardnett 1 1-2 3, Avion Willis 2 0-0 4, Emrik Hamilton 1 1-1 3, William Burns 4 0-0 8, Levi Screws 1 0-0 2, Noah Turner 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 2-6 24.
RANBURNE – Will Hewitt 1 0-0 3, Austin Olds 0 1-2 1, Ben Jackson 4 0-0 8, Tyler Craft 8 0-1 16, Colby Hanson 4 1-3 11, Trace McMahan 2 1-2 6, Carson Riddle 0 0-0 0, Mason Jackson 2 0-0 4, Cade Mitchell 4 1-2 10. Totals 25 4-10 59.
Randolph County 4 8 9 3 – 24
Ranburne 25 12 11 11 – 59
3-point goals: Ranburne 5 (Hewitt, Hanson 2, McMahan, Mitichell). Total fouls: Randolph County 12, Ranburne 9.
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