In full buzz
- Updated: February 4, 2025
Despite team battles with flu, Yellow Jackets continue late-season gell with dominant performance against Shades Valley in area final.
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD — A lot of good things happen for Oxford’s boys when Jaylen Alexanxder drives the lane, and Chris Latson’s alley-oop dunks just might be the most entertaining of them all.
Latson and Alexander connected twice in Oxford’s Class 6A, Area 11 final against Shades Valley on Tuesday. One in each half punctuated a dominant showing by Oxford in a 62-31 victory.
Third-ranked Oxford (22-6) earned the right to play host to a subregional game against Fort Payne on Saturday. Shades Valley will go on the road to play the winner.
Oxford’s season ended in the subregional round a year ago. The Yellow Jackets have better ideas for this year.
“We really want to be something and make a statement and say who we are,” Latson said
Oxford has made statements lately. The Yellow Jackets dominated the Calhoun County Tournament beating Alexandria 66-32 in the title game a week ago and followed that up with a 56-40 victory over Vestavia Hills on Thursday.
They’ve won five in a row headed into the subregional. This is not the team that limped into its three-team area tournament as the No. 3 seed then shock everyone by winning it at Fort Payne last year.
This is a team with options. Even with flu running through the team, causing Jaylin Taylor to miss Tuesady’s game, Oxford had lots of ways to go.
“We’re connected, and it’s obvious,” Oxford coach Joel Van Meter said. “You can see it, both offensively and defensively.
“What’s a good team? It’s a team that can beat you in a lot of different areas, and I think we can beat you in a lot of different areas.”
For the third time this season, Shades Valley took its chances trying to push Marcus Perry Jr. off of the 3-point line. That strategy helped the Mounties stay relatively close in the first two games, Oxford’s 52-45 win on Jan. 16 and 65-49 on Jan. 3.
Oxford got 17 points from Jayden Lewis, 16 from Alexander and 15 from Latson on Tuesday, and Perry still managed to hit two 3-pointers on the way to eight points.
“They couldn’t guard Jayden Lewis around the rim,” Van Meter said. “They couldn’t guard Jaylen Alexander out on the floor, which allowed Marcus to get open looks, and Marcus did a good job of offensive rebounding.
“Then you had Chris slashing to the rim.”
That’s where Alexander’s chemistry with Latson showed through, with an alley-oop dunk in each half. Latson said that chemistry has developed over time, and it’s something that requires time to develop.
“That type of connection doesn’t happen over night,” Van Meter said. “The longer they’ve played together this year, the more they’ve gotten used to what each other is looking for.
“Marcus knows that Jaylen is looking for him all of the time. Jay (Lewis) knows that Jaylen is looking for him all of the time in the post, and now Chris knows that Jaylen is looking for him off slashes to the rim, on his drives.”
Van Meter also lauded bench play from Conner Richerzhagen, Cooper Romano and Anthony Bush.
“We’ve got some thoroughbreds, some Secretariats,” said Van Meter, a Kentucky native. “I just try to get out of the way a little bit.”
Photos by Joe Medley
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