A ‘rewarding’ win
- Updated: January 21, 2022
Oxford back in county tournament finals, looking to give this year’s senior class a four-year sweep of the title
CALHOUN COUNTY BOYS TOURNAMENT
At Jacksonville State
Thursday’s semifinals
Oxford 63, Anniston 43
Jacksonville 80, Alexandria 66
Friday’s championship
No. 1 Jacksonville vs. No. 2 Oxford, 8 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE — Oxford moved into the boys championship game of the Calhoun County Tournament for the sixth year in a row Thursday night with a 63-43 victory over Anniston.
The Yellow Jackets, the No. 2 seed, will be seeking their fourth straight title when they take on top-seeded Jacksonville Friday at 8 p.m. They have won four of the last five tournament titles, but all that matters is the here and now.
“I don’t’ even think about that; this is a whole new year,” Oxford coach Joel VanMeter said. “What we did last year with a whole different team, that means nothing. What means a lot of me is the way our guys came out and competed.
“This group has been through a lot in terms of winning and losing and how we’ve lost games and how we’ve battled, what we’ve had to learn as a group, what we’ve had to learn as individuals and it’s rewarding as a coach to watch it get put together, especially in this setting where everybody in the county gets to see them because nobody ever gets to see us.
“So, it was definitely a rewarding win.”
Lipscomb signee Rylan Houck, snubbed for the MVP of last year’s championship, led the Jackets with 24 and showed out in the second half in a dynamic one-on-one matchup. Eighth-grader – but don’t call him that — Jaylen Alexander had 15.
Anniston’s Antonio Kite, last year’s tournament MVP, led Anniston with 23.
The Bulldogs put Kite on Houck defensively in the second half, but Houck took advantage of what he learned in two days of film study and attacked the goal. He scored 10 in the third quarter, 14 in the second half.
“People have no idea how special that kid is,” VanMeter said. “It doesn’t surprise me anything that he does. I think some teams have kind of shut him down a little bit in the second half over some games that we’ve looked at and he just said that’s not happening today.”
If Oxford wins tomorrow, it would make Houck 4-for-4 in county finals. Winning the title, he said, is much bigger for him than any MVP award.
“It’d be nice (to win the title),” Houck said. “Obviously, that’s not our overall team goal, the county championship, but the season that we’ve played this year has been really rough, but it builds up to games like this and environments like this.
“The biggest thing for me is Kyler (Wright), J.D. (Jones), Zurrell (Garrett), they’ve never been on a team that has been playing in the county tournament championship and they’ve never won it. So, it’d be good to give different people that feeling.”
He said Alexander could be the next Oxford player to win four in a row, then he corrected himself. “Probably five,” he said with a sly smile. “He’s going to win this year.”
Oxford 63, Anniston 43
ANNISTON – Jaden Lewis 0 0-0 0, Antonio Kite 7 8-13 23, Tadyn Jones 0 0-2 0, Jamarius Billingsley 1 0-0 3, Troy Hall 1 0-0 3, C.J. Munford 1 0-0 3, Kam Sandlin 0 2-3 2, Talib Christian 3 3-4 9, Javen Croft 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 13-22 43.
OXFORD – Jaylen Alexander 5 0-0 11, Zurrell Garrett 2 1-4 5, Rylan Houck 11 1-6 24, Kyler Wright 3 0-0 6, Mike McGraw 2 4-6 8, Jayden Lewis 4 1-3 9, Ashton Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Brock Reaves 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 7-19 63.
Anniston 7 8 11 17 – 43
Oxford 13 14 22 14 – 63
3-point goals: Anniston 4 (Kite, Billingsley, Munford, Hall); Oxford 2 (Alexander, Houck). Fouled out: Lewis. Total fouls: Anniston 19, Oxford 23. Officials: Zauchin, Shirey, Hodge.
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