Golden Eagles’ light-bulb moment
- Updated: December 29, 2021
Deeply talented Jacksonville flips switch in its final game of Huntsville City Classic, sees just how good it is playing ‘the way we need to play’
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
HUNTSVILLE – Shane Morrow had always said once the light bulb comes on his Jacksonville basketball team will take off.
That light bulb appeared to have finally come on for the Golden Eagles at halftime of their final game in the Huntsville City Classic here Wednesday morning, just in time to start a serious stretch run.
While he’s still a little cautious about calling it the big turn, Morrow watched his team come from 16 down in the second quarter and parlay that into an electric 36-point third quarter that propelled it to a 76-58 victory over Madison Academy to salvage a win on a trip designed to measure them against some of the top teams in the state.
“We’ve played like that before,” Morrow said. “We played like the first quarter of Saks. We played like that the first quarter of White Plains. But we couldn’t string it together and put people away. I was proud of them for fighting back.
“We didn’t do anything different. We had a little meeting last night where we all talked about stuff, but we’ve had this same conversation practically every game about playing the way we need to play. This is no disrespect to any other team, it’s not about the other team right now for them.
“When we play the way we can play, like we did in the second and third quarter, then we’re going to be fine. I just think the light bulb started coming on for them.”
There wasn’t one play, comment or activity that flipped the switch. It just, well, sort of happened.
The Golden Eagles started doing the things they had to for this deeply talented team to live up to its hype and just weren’t in their four losses. They basically ran and ran and ran and ultimately ran the Mustangs out of the game. They turned it over 17 times in the first half, but only six in the second.
“It was just a lead by example type of energy,” senior shooter Julian Hill said. “Everybody started playing good and it all caught on.”
They started by getting the ball into Cade Phillips in the post and the 6-9 junior finally finishing it off. They also hit four 3s in their most productive quarter since a 34-point second in the season opener against Faith, a game in which they debuted with 104 points.
Phillips had been growing more comfortable the longer he stayed on this stage and Wednesday he let loose, scoring 14 points in the third quarter and exerting his authority with several big dunks.
He finished with a game-high 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting, eight rebounds, four steals and four blocked shots, and was named to the all-tournament team. Quin Long, John Broom and Hill all had 11 points. Long didn’t miss a shot and grabbed seven rebounds, and Broom had six rebounds, four blocks and three assists. Nine Jacksonville players scored in the second half.
“We played bad (early), that was obviously, but I felt like we as team didn’t feel like we belonged here and that’s something that astonishes me because we have so much talent and so many guys who can do it,” Phillips said. “We play a second and third quarter like that, we’ll beat anybody.
“The first day I came out really slow, had a really bad day. I just had to turn it around and mentally just prepare for the next two days. This third day I really tried rallying around the guys and getting some energy going, which is something I feel like as a leader I’ve been doing a terrible job the last couple days. We started to bring some energy and it moved us forward a little bit.”
Actually, the filament started getting hot a lot earlier than when the light bulb finally flickered to life.
The Golden Eagles looked like they were in for another rough game against one of the state’s elite, falling behind by 16 with 6:32 left in the second quarter. But then they flipped the switch, forced a couple turnovers that turned into points and surged back to actually take a one-point lead with 56 seconds left before going into the break tied at 27.
And all that energy carried over into the third quarter.
“I think it came on the second quarter, that’s when everyone started opening up and playing aggressive how we did,” Hill said. “We made that comeback in the second quarter and then the light bulb definitely switched at halftime and that’s when we started running away with it.
“It was fun. I love it when my teammates catch fire like that. The energy’s great. I think it was hard for us to get going, but once we do get going, it’s unstoppable.”
Jacksonville 76, Madison Academy 58
JACKSONVILLE (9-4) –Cade Phillips 8-10 2-4 18, Quin Long 4-4 1-1 11, John Broom 4-8 3-3 11, Julian Hill 4-6 0-0 11, Camren Johnson 3-4 1-1 9, Devin Barksdale 3-8 0-0 8, Caden Johnson 2-6 0-0 4, Ethan Duke 0-00 2-2 2, Kydric Fisher 1-1 0-1 2, Monte Sinclair 0-0 0-0 0, Taj Morris 0-1 0-2 0, Jacoby Zackery 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-49 9-14 76.
MADISON ACADEMY –Cody Baerocher 5-17 2-2 14, Andrew Blackston 4-11 2-2 13, Camron Bell 2-2 3-4 9, Jailen Holmes 3-14 1-2 7, Cedric Lowery 3-5 0-1 6, Lawson Pippins 2-3 0-0 5, Jaylen Blackwell 0-5 2-3 2, Jaxon McGonigle 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 20-59 10-15 58.
Jacksonville 9 18 36 13 – 76
Madison Academy 15 12 10 21 – 58
3-point goals: Jacksonville 9-22 (Long 2-2, Broom 0-4, Hill 3-5, Cm. Johnson 2-3, Barksdale 2-4, Cd. Johnson 0-3, Morris 0-1); Madison Academy 8-21 (Baerocher 2-8, Blackston 3-6, Bell 2-2, Holmes 0-1, Pippins 1-1, Blackwell 0-2, McMonigle 0-1). Rebounds: Jacksonville 37 (Phillips 8, Long 7, Broom 6); Madison Academy 28 (Baerocher 6, Lowery 5). Total fouls: Jacksonville 19, Madison Academy 15.
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