Closing in
- Updated: January 30, 2021
Piedmont sophomore Odam inches closer to the Bulldogs’ boys scoring record, could get it as early as Monday
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Players don’t live in a vacuum. In this age of social media and instant messaging they know what everybody else is doing in any location just about the time they’re doing it.
Piedmont’s Alex Odam was playing his own game Thursday night, but it didn’t take long for him to discover Spring Garden’s Weston Kirk had gone for 52 points in a win over Cedar Bluff.
Even a scorer like he was impressed. One might think as the sophomore chases his school’s all-time scoring record he might be inclined to match his former teammate’s big game earlier in the week and pick all that he needed all at once.
He’s capable of it, no doubt, and a school-record 51 Saturday would have made him Piedmont’s all-time leading boys scorer, but he settled for 33 in three quarters and the Bulldogs handled Ohatchee 64-32 to complete another undefeated season of area play.
“We were playing at Ohatchee and when we got on the bus I saw it on Twitter, and I was like dang …,” Odam said. “He can score with the best of them around here.
“It’d be cool to score as many as he did, but I don’t go into a game with that mindset – like I’m sure he didn’t; it just kind of … happened. It was pretty impressive.”
Odam is impressive, too, but Piedmont coach JoJo Odam has too much respect for Ohatchee coach Bryant Ginn to turn his big-time scorer loose just for some personal milestone.
Still, Alex has been particularly prolific since the Bulldogs returned from their COVID-19 quarantine right before the County Tournament. In the seven games since coming back, he has scored 30 or more three times and averaged 26.0 points. Three of the games have been against Ohatchee (21, 23, 33). He has scored 91 in his last three games.
“I think he’s maybe been a little more aggressive (since the return), which I think we’ve needed,” JoJo Odom said. “And I think the game’s coming easier to him; I think it’s slowing down for him. When the game slows down for somebody like that I think it tells you maybe you’re getting to the next level you want to get to.
“I’m not going to lie, I enjoy watching him as a much as anybody. I’m glad he’s on my team. I enjoy coaching him. It’s been fun coaching him.”
And he still has two more years after this, plenty of time to crush all the records.
Saturday’s showing left him 17 points shy of passing Danny Bryan’s boys school record of 1,686 set in 78 games between 1964 and 1967. If Odam just sticks to his career average (17.0) he can cross the threshold Monday at home against Glencoe in his 99thcareer varsity game. He’s averaging 22.6 this season.
Terrace Ridley, the current Piedmont girls coach, has the most points in Piedmont basketball history, going for 2,064 when she played on the girls team as Terrace Spears from 1985 to 1989. Odam passed Ridley’s brother-in-law, Randall Ridley, to move into second place on the boys list.
“Right now I’m not really thinking about it, but I think it’s pretty big accomplishing something that at Piedmont, the history this school has had and all the players who have come out of here,” he said. “I think it’s going to be pretty cool to accomplish. It should be a pretty special night for me and the team this year with school and stuff like that.”
Odam was on track to get it Saturday, scoring 24 points in the first half. He had a run of 12 straight Piedmont points at the end of the first quarter, nine straight Piedmont points at the end of the second and a 3-pointer in between.
He scored his last basket of the game at the end of the third on a ball that teetered on the edge of the rim, looked like it was going to fall off, then had enough backwards momentum to fall back into the net. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
“He’s just playing his game, that’s what he does,” senior Jakari Foster said as he watches his teammate’s point total rise.
The state record is 5,716 points, held by Lindsay Lane’s Tommy Murr. Only four players in history have ever scored more than 5,000 points. Only four in the state of Alabama have 4,000.
“I don’t think I can get that many,” Odam said. “I don’t think I can get his record.”
Piedmont 64, Ohatchee 32
OHATCHEE – Noah Fuller 0 0-0 0, Trey Pesnell 3 5-6 12, Eli Teem 2 0-0 5, Justin Powell 3 1-2 7, Konnor Baswell 0 0-0 0, Brock England 0 0-0 0, Aiden Simpson 0 0-0 0, David Read 1 0-0 3, Kelbe Crook 2 1-3 5. Totals 11 7-11 32.
PIEDMONT (12-6) – Alex Odam 14 3-4 33, Omarion Foster 3 0-0 6, Luke Bussey 0 0-0 0, Jadon Calhoun 2 0-1 5, Jack Hayes 1 0-0 2, Coleman Reid 2 0-1 4, Cassius Fairs 1 0-0 3, Jakari Foster 4 0-0 9, Sean Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 3-6 64.
Ohatchee 7 12 5 8 – 32
Piedmont 21 17 23 3 – 64
3-point goals: Ohatchee 3 (Pesnell, Teem, Read); Piedmont 5 (Odam 2, Calhoun, Fairs, J. Foster). Total fouls: Ohatchee 10, Piedmont 13. Officials: Burroughs, Dyar, Wise.
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