Jacksonville, AL – Lewis smashes his way into Calhoun County spotlight as MVP with performance as No. For the county title, 2 seed Oxford defeats top seed Jacksonville
Joe Medley
Jayden Lewis claimed that his coach called him “Manchild” after a Springville area-tournament match last year. Joel Van Meter repeated the same phrase after Lewis won Oxford’s Calhoun County boys’ basketball title on Friday. He said, “It keeps me going.”
Calhoun County basketball enthusiasts will be familiar with Lewis’ real name as well as his nickname. His 22-point performance (including an alley-oop jump with 36 seconds remaining) highlighted the Yellow Jackets’ 43-40 win over Jacksonville in Pete Mathews Coliseum. The tournament’s most valuable player was also able to add seven rebounds and three steals for Oxford (11-13), which won its 23rd county title, its fifth consecutive title and sixth in seven year.
Van Meter sees it as a bookend. It is Oxford’s ninth county title. He said, “I’ll be truthful with you, except for the first one. This one and the first might just mean something different because we felt like such an underdog.” Rylan Houck, the most valuable player on Oxford’s 2022 County Championship team, was among those who suffered graduation losses. Kyler Wright, Michael McGraw and Michael McGraw were also starters.
Oxford also lost senior guard Brock Reaves to Oxford’s quarterfinal win over Faith Christian. Reaves broke his jaw during the Yellow Jackets’ quarterfinal win. Lewis stated that they had discussed Tuesday’s issue of us being underdogs. Guard Jaliek Lang was absent for Jacksonville. Tres Buzan, Jacksonville coach, declined to comment on Long’s absence but stated that the player would not be returning. [ Read more…]
