Carom completes Cubs’ comeback
- Updated: January 2, 2023
Monday basketball: Alexandria rallies from 10-point deficit to beat Anniston in OT, Anniston’s girls use two big runs to win, Ohatchee’s Crook goes for 52
BOYS GAMES
Alexandria 61, Anniston 60 (OT)
Vestavia Hills 58, Oxford 37
Westbrook 67, Ohatchee 32
GIRLS GAMES
Anniston 48, Alexandria 31
Ohatchee 66, Westbrook 40
Vestavia Hills 79, Oxford 49
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
T.K. Downie never fought so hard for a rebound in his life. All he was doing was following his coach’s wishes.
Downie and his Alexandria teammates were clinging to a one-point lead over Anniston with 20 seconds left in overtime Monday night. Valley Cubs assistant coach Todd Ginn was shouting from the bench at the other end of the floor “rebound and we win the game” and Downie heard him loud and clear
The Cubs missed the first opportunity to clear Anniston’s first shot in the end-game scenario, but Downie muscled in on the second try to secure the rebound and lock up a 61-60 road win that could score Alexandria some points in Wednesday’s county tournament seeding meeting.
“I fought really hard to get that rebound,” Downie said. “We were up by one or two and I knew if I got the ball it was over with, so I just fought my hardest to get the ball. I had to get this ball no matter what.”
“They’re a good, good rebounding team; that No. 11 (Javon Croft) could jump out the gym,” teammate Drake Davis said. “But T.K.’s a good athlete, too, and he showed it. He got the rebound.”
It was his only rebound of the game.
The Cubs had to work hard for this one. They trailed by 10 entering in the fourth quarter and were down three with 21.6 left. But Drake Davis, who hit three 3s in the fourth quarter, capped the perfect execution of a play the Cubs had only recently started practicing, making one from the right side of the arc at the buzzer to force overtime.
Once in the extra period, Downie buried an open 3 from the left side to put the Cubs up for good with 2:19 left and then Davis calmly hit both ends of a one-and-one with 56.5 seconds left to give them a 61-58 lead.
The Cubs didn’t have much time to tie the game in regulation. There were four seconds left when head coach Will Ginn called time to avoid a five-second call. Downie threw it over the top to Antonio Ross, who got it to Davis at the right elbow and he smoothly let it fly.
“I knew where I was going to get the ball,” Davis said. “We ran through it a couple times in practice, but we hadn’t really run it in a game like that. I knew they were going to switch and pressure me a lot because they know I was a shooter, so I knew I had to pump-fake or something, get them in the air, get a foul or something, so I shot it and it went in.”
“We knew who was going to get the ball,” Anniston coach Torry Brown said. “We just didn’t defend it the way we wanted to.”“That’s the thing with Drake; he does have a kind of calmness to him,” head coach Will Ginn. “Sometimes I get frustrated almost because sometimes he’s too calm, but then in situations like that it’s really good for him to be calm.”
It was a mad scramble at the finish. Javen Croft’s putback with 43 seconds left got Anniston within 61-60 and his steal in the trap inside 30 seconds gave the Bulldogs the chance to take the final shot.
Brown called his final time out with 19.9 seconds left to set up the final exchange. Malik Bailey missed their first shot, but Croft kept the ball alive for the Bulldogs. He got it to Jayden Lewis in close, but that Lewis’ shot missed the mark and Downie corralled the rebound in traffic and the horn sounded.
“I knew we had to play really good defense to keep our spot,” Downie said.
“T.K. is one of the best athletes we’ve got on the team; that’s he’s expected to do,” Will Ginn said. “That was a big rebound, but that’s what I preach to those guys every day. He went up and got it strong and secured it.”
Kory Cargal led Alexandria with 21 points. Davis had 20 points, six rebounds, three steals and four assists. Downie scored nine points.
The key to the comeback was simple. The Cubs stopped giving up offensive rebounds and turning over the ball and just the opposite happened for the Bulldogs. Alexandria had 18 turnovers in the game and gave up 13 offensive rebounds, but was beaten on the glass only once in the fourth quarter.
“I feel like we would’ve made a run the third quarter, we were playing good enough, but every time we would get a turnover, we would turn it right back over to them,” Will Ginn said. “Well, we kind of quit doing that in the fourth quarter. You can’t come back turning the ball over or giving up offensive rebounds.
“I’m glad they got a win in this type of environment. A lot of these guys I’ve got have never been in this type of game. I told them every game for us here on out is this type game. That’s just the way it is. It’s going to be a grind-out game.”
Anniston built the 10-point lead they maintained throughout the first three quarters by shooting the lights out in the first half. Seven of its first nine buckets in the game were 3-pointers and five players combined for eight of them in the first half, including Devin Coleman’s third bomb of the half at the buzzer, for a 35-25 lead at the break.
Croft led Anniston with 14 points. Kyron Brown had 12 and Coleman had 10.
ALEXANDRIA 61, ANNISTON 60 (OT)
ALEXANDRIA – Drake Davis 7 2-2 20, Evan Snow 0 0-0 0, Antonio Ross 3 0-2 6, T.K. Downie 4 0-0 9, Jaylen Henderson 1 0-0 3, Matthew McElroy 0 0-0 0, Kory Cargal 8 4-8 21, Cleat Forrest 1 0-0 2, Quendavion McDowell 0 0-2 0. Totals 24 6-14 61.
ANNISTON – Jacory Lane 1 1-2 4, Devin Coleman 3 1-2 10, Kyron Brown 3 4-7 12, Jayden Lewis 1 2-7 4, Isaiah Allen 1 2-2 4, Jace Roberson 1 0-0 2, Javon Croft 6 2-2 14, Malik Bailey 1 0-0 3, Delroy Francis 1 0-0 2, Hezekiah Harris 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 12-22 60.
Alexandria 9 16 11 16 9 – 61
Anniston 18 17 11 6 8 – 60
3-point goals: Alexandria 7 (Davis 4, Downie, Henderson, Cargal); Anniston 8 (Lane, Coleman 3, Brown 2, Roberson, Bailey). Total fouls: Alexandria 17, Anniston 12. Officials: Oden, Tillery, Stringer.
VESTAVIA HILLS 58, OXFORD 37: Win Miller scored eight of his game-high 18 points in a tight first quarter, then the Rebels steadily pulled away over the next three in a game played at Wallace State. Vestavia held the Jackets to five points in the second quarter to open an 11-point halftime lead.
OXFORD – Jaylen Alexander 1 5-8 8, Caleb Sanders 2 0-1 5, Dashaun Callaway 2 0-2 4, Chase Truitt 0 0-0 0, Jordan Kelley 1 0-0 2, Brock Reaves 0 2-2 2, Jayden Lewis 3 1-2 7, Marcus Perry 0 0-0 0, Cristian Gibson 3 0-0 7, Elijah Malone 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 8-15 37.
VESTAVIA HILLS – Win Miller 7 1-2 18, Nathan Harris 1 0-0 2, Keown Richardson 1 0-0 2, Taylor Akin 1 0-0 2, Joshua Heald 2 0-0 6, Jordan Ross 5 0-1 10, Ben Sawyer 0 0-0 0, Jackson Weaver 3 1-2 7, Nathanael Brown 0 0-0 0, Graham Uldrich 1 0-0 2, Thomas Taaffe 1 0-0 2, William Worrell 2 0-0 6, Ben Evans 0 1-2 1. Totals 24 3-7 58.
Oxford 13 5 11 8 – 37
Vestavia Hills 15 14 15 14 – 58
3-point goals: Oxford 3 (Alexander, Sanders, Gibson); Vestavia Hills 7 (Miller 3, Heald 2, Worrell 2). Total fouls: Oxford 11, Vestavia Hills 17. Officials: Ry. Key, Ru. Key, Kuhl.
WESTBROOK 67, OHATCHEE 32: The Warriors (14-2) erupted for 33 points in the second quarter to pull away from a close game. Eight players scored for Westbrook in the quarter, with Cameron Carden scoring seven of his nine and Steven Barnes scoring eight of his 10 in the quarter. Eight Westbrook players hit 10 3-pointers in the game.
OHATCHEE – Eli Teem 2 0-0 5, Jake Roberts 1 0-0 2, Jesse Baswell 1 0-0 2, Colby Hester 4 0-1 8, Jake Roberson 0 2-2 2, Nathan Dover 0 2-2 2, Luke Vinson 3 1-2 7, Kelbe Crook 1 2-2 4. Totals 12 7-9 32.
WESTBROOK – Cameron White 3 0-0 7, Steven Barnes 4 0-0 10, Cooper Greer 2 2-2 7, John Gilchrist 1 0-0 2, Keaton Bean 1 0-0 3, Eli Edge 1 0-0 3, Joshua Terrell 4 0-0 10, Brady Carden 2 0-2 4, Cameron Carden 4 1-2 9, Isaac Armstrong 2 1-2 6, Cole Potter 1 0-0 3, Ben Morrison 1 1-2 3. Totals 26 5-10 67.
Ohatchee 11 8 8 5 – 32
Westbrook 15 33 14 5 – 67
3-point goals: Ohatchee 1 (Teem); Westbrook 10 (White, Barnes 2, Greer, Bean, Edge, Terrell 2, Armstrong, Potter). Total fouls: Ohatchee 14, Westbrook 13.
Girls games
ANNISTON 48, ALEXANDRIA 31: The Lady Dawgs opened the game with an 11-0 run and then when Alexandria got close pulled away with a 17-0 spree that provided the margin of victory.
After Anniston opened their early lead, Alexandria got right back in it with three 3-pointers by Jill Cockrell, Cassidy Hartsfield and Jordyn Walker. The Lady Dawgs came back to life and went on their 17-0 run, which Alexandria ended with its first made layup of the game just over four minutes into the second half.
“We’re capable of doing that,” Anniston coach Eddie Bullock said. “But like I told them as hard as we worked to get that 11-0 lead, we gave up three shots and they’re right back in the game.
“They didn’t have to work that hard (for it). It was like 1-2-3 and they’re back in the game. Then we bust our butt and fight to get a lead, then we come back and let them get right back in. That’s part of being immature.
“I’m not being hard. Some teams don’t make shots, but let’s make them work as hard as we have to work. We had to work to get those 17-0 and 11-0 runs. They didn’t have to work to get back in it, even though we played good defense.”
It was a 14-point with 3:45 to play, then Anniston closed it out from the free throw line.
Akayla Perry hit four 3-pointers for Anniston and led all scorers with 17 points. Tykeria Smith scored eight of her 10 points in the second half.
ALEXANDRIA – Jordyn Walker 2 0-1 5, Kristen Heathcock 0 0-0 0, Jill Cockrell 3 0-2 9, Cassidy Hartsfield 1 3-4 6, Charlee Parris 2 2-6 6, Kirsten Dickerson 1 1-2 3, Sumira Duncan 1 0-0 2, Makayla Brewster 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 6-18 31.
ANNISTON – Layla Tyus 2 1-4 5, Akayla Perry 6 1-2 17, Ma’tasia Truss 1 4-6 6, Jayda Fomby 0 0-0 0, Jenayzia Oliver 1 0-0 3, Tykeria Smith 4 2-7 10, Kiara Thomas 3 0-0 7. Totals 17 8-19 48.
Alexandria 0 9 9 13 – 31
Anniston 11 5 19 13 – 48
3-point goals: Alexandria 5 (Walker, Cockrell 3, Hartsfield); Anniston 6 (Perry 4, Oliver, Thomas). Total fouls: Alexandria 17, Anniston 13. Officials: Tillery, Oden, McKinney.
OHATCHEE 66, WESTBROOK 40: Jorda Crook scored 52 – her third 50-point game of the season – and would’ve had 60 if she hit a few more free throws. She had 19 points in each of the first and second quarters.
OHATCHEE – Tabi Davidson 1 0-0 2, Whitney McFry 1 2-2 4, Katherina Marsh 1 0-0 2, Mia Waters 0 0-0 0, Kiana Garber 0 0-0 0, Jorda Crook 23 6-16 52, Alyssa Davis 2 0-3 4, Priesly Davis 1 0-3 2. Totals 29 8-24 66.
WESTBROOK – Bella Millirons 5 2-3 12, Kylee Wyatt 0 0-0 0, Cate Windle 1 0-0 3, Ellison Stewart 0 0-0 0, Chloe Jones 0 0-1 0, Danielle Prime 0 0-0 0, Gracie Hyfield 2 0-0 5, Kathryn Elam 0 0-0 0, Landri Lipscomb 0 0-0 0, McKayla Bean 2 3-4 7, Keyara Jones 3 1-2 8, Alyvia Carden 2 0-0 5. Totals 15 6-10 40.
Ohatchee 25 23 14 4 – 66
Westbrook 12 7 13 8 – 40
3-point goals: Westbrook 4 (Windle, Hyfield, Jones, Carden). Total fouls: Ohatchee 15, Westbrook 17. Officials: Graves, Higdon, Wolford.
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