Calhoun County Alabama – Thursday Boys: Weaver responds quickly to team meeting and sends message at Saks for big matchups in the future; Piedmont’s Pinto sets career high, Alexandria’s Davis has big game and more
THURSDAY GAMES
Alexandria 76, Moody 72
Pleasant Valley 33, Cedar Bluff 52
Donoho 59, ASD 27
Faith Christian 78 Jacksonville Christian 60
Handley 71, Callaway (Ga.) 61
White Plains 48, Pell City 53
Piedmont 79; Wellborn 25
Ragland 76; Jefferson Christian 73
Weaver 55, Saks 43
Cherokee County, Cleburne County
Horseshoe Bend in Randolph County
Ohatchee at Hokes Bluff
Al Muskewitz
The Weaver boys declared Thursday that they were ready to face Saks, regardless of whether it was to set the stage for their area tournament matchup, or their first round matchup in Calhoun County Tournament.
The Bearcats scored 12 points against Saks, who hadn’t played for 18 days. They took a 23-8 lead in the second quarter to open a 53-43 win wire-to-wire. This was in spite of their Calhoun County Tournament seeding.
Saks was the eighth seed, and Weaver was the ninth seed.
Armane Burton, a Bearcats senior, stated that they wanted to be clear that they weren’t here to mess around. “The way that we started was really good. It was very fast. It had a great tempo. It was enjoyable. It was great fun. I enjoyed it. It’s something I think we should do more of.
The Bearcats will be playing their most important games against each other in the future, but they were more responsive to the Dec. 30 air-clearing meeting that was held to establish some guidelines for the second half.
Beau Winn, Bearcats coach, said that after the Heflin tournament we were unable to come out of it, the team had to work together and that’s what they’ve been focusing their attention on. Yesterday was a great practice day. It was amazing to feel the difference in my energy.
“Sometimes team meetings can do that. It wasn’t me. I did not talk a lot, but I did listen a lot. We played well, I think.”
The Bearcats have been plagued by slow starts throughout the season. However, that was not the case tonight. The Bearcats made eight of the 14 shots from the floor during the first quarter, and four other players scored points before the Wildcats reached the scoreboard at 5:20.
Burton was the most influential player in the Bearcats quick start. He scored nine points in the quarter and thirteen in the 23-8 run. He ended the game with 18 points. Tristan Brown had a triple-double (16 rebounds, 10 assists, and 16 points), and he now has 969 career points.
Winn stated, “When we won our first quarter and that’s it.” “That’s our M.O. We struggle in the first quarter. But I thought that we managed the offense well. We didn’t give up the ball. We had very few live ball turnovers. The important thing was to win the small things.”
Jonathan Miller, Saks’ coach, doesn’t believe this will have an impact on future matchups. It’s about being the best team the day you play. After such a long layoff, a team that hadn’t played many games to start with the Wildcats (3-5) weren’t at their best.
Midway through the second quarter, they started to get their bearings and reduced their deficit by 10 on several occasions. But, they couldn’t overcome the hump. Saks was led by Dee Elston with 14 points.
Miller stated that although I thought the game would be sloppy no matter who it was played, at the end, we made too many mental errors, playing soft at times and doing things that don’t require effort like rebounding or defending. We made too many of these type mistakes to win a match. We did manage to get under 10 times, but we couldn’t get over this hump.
“But, when digging a hole, you have to put in a lot of effort to get back into it, we just didn’t make that play to get over the top. To their credit, however, they made the play when needed.”
SAKS (3-5) – Jakari streeter 3 0-0 7 – Dee Elston 6–0 14 Christian Smith 3 2-4 8 Anthony Bothwell 4–0-0 7 Tae Elston 1 0-0 0, Keondre John 0–0 0, Christian Hall 2–0 5. Totals 18 2-4 43.
WEAVER (7-12), – Tristan Brown 6-4-5 16, Elijah Smith0 0-0 0, Jeffrey Miles3 0-0 6, Keshawn Alle3 0-0 7, Dawson Brooks3 0-0 7, Jackson Williams1 0-0 2, Armane Buford8 1-2 18. Totals 24-46 5-7 55.
Saks 6 12 13 12 – 43
Weaver 17 10 14 14 – 55
3-point goals: Saks 5 (Streeter, D. Elston 2, Bothwell, Hall); Weaver 2 (Allen, Burton). Total fouls: Saks 10, Weaver 5. Officials: Taylor, Merritt, Barber.
WELLBORN 25, Rollie pinto made five 3-pointers, scoring a career high 30 points. The Bulldogs (11-2), won their seventh consecutive game. Chance Murphy scored 12 points. The Bulldogs moved to 4-0 in this area.
Jackson Long and Ethan Tidwell each scored 10 points for Wellborn. Tidwell continued where he left off against Munford by hitting two 3-pointers in quarter one. He scored three more in the fourth quarter against Lions.
WELLBORN (0-12), –Ryan Wilson 0 0-0 0. Conner Woodard 0 0-0 0. Xavier Parker 0 0-0 0 Avery Odom 0 0-0 0 C.J. Hubbard 00-0 0, Jaylon Gilbert 1 0-2 0, Immanual Singleton 2 0-2 0, Chris Williams 4 0-0 10, Jackson Long 5 0-2 10, Trey Downs 3 0-2 1, C.J. Totals 10 1-6 25.
PIEDMONT (11-2) – Alex Odam 3 0-0 6, Rollie Pinto 12 1-2 30, Ish Bethel 2 1-1 6, Colten Proctor 4 0-0 9, Luke Rhinehart 0 0-0 0, Jake Rhinehart 0 0-0 0, Trevor Pike 1 0-0 2, Chance Murphy 3 5-7 12, Rhett Alford 2 2-2 6, Cole Wilson 2 0-0 5, Dontavious Jordan 1 1-2 3. Totals 30 10-14 79.
Wellborn 10 6 5 4 4 – 25
Piedmont 15 19 22 23 23 -79
3-point goals: Wellborn 4, Tidwell 2, Long 2, Piedmont 9, Pinto 5, Bethel Proctor, Murphy and Wilson. Total fouls: Piedmont 6, Wellborn 14 Officials: Burroughs, Railey, Nelms.
PELL CITY 53 WHITE PLAINS 48 Pell city made seven of the 11 free throws during the fourth quarter, and was 18-of-24 in the game to defeat the Wildcats.
PELLCITY – Collin McCombs 0-2 2, Jaden Coleman 4-3 12, Jayden Young 40-0 10, Jarekburroughs 3 0-1 6 T.J. Cooper 1 2-2 2, Garrison Hildebrant 0-4 4, Mike Snow 3-2 8. Totals 16 18-23 53.
WHITE PLAINS (7-10) –Dylan Barksdale (1 0-1 2), Paul Laube (1 2-24) Z.J. Rosario 6 1-13, Silas Hines3 0-1 7, Josh Wheeler0 0-0 0, Coleman Ray1 0-0 0, Daniel Williams1 0-0 2, Luke Bussey5 1-2 14, Carter Johnson1 0-0 2. Totals 19 5-9 48.
Pell City 13 13 15 – 53
White Plains 11 13 13 13 13 -48
3-point goals: Pell city 3 (Coleman and Young 2); White Plains 5, (Rosario. Hines. Bussey 3). Total fouls: Pell city 13, White Plains 19. Officials: Calkins, Howell, Hollingsworth.
FAITH CHRISTIAN, JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN: Thomas Curlee scored thirty points in the first quarters. Conner Richerzhagen & Yoshua Arevalo had combined for 34 points to lead the Lions.
Curlee made 12 of 18 field goals and grabbed 12 rebounds. Arevalo made four 3-pointers, had 10 boards and six assists. He also blocked two shots. Richerzhagen dished four assists. As a team, the Lions made 12 3-pointers.
FAITH (13/4) – Conner Richerzhagen (7-16 0-1 16) – Tyler Bell 1-4, 0-0 3, Eli Robinson 2-3,0-0 4, Yoshua Arevalo (7-15 0-0 18) – Thomas Curlee 12-18 (3-5 30), Carson Harris 0-1 1 1-2 0, Parker Robertson 0-1 020 0, Toby Ricard 2-5,0-0 6, Kolton Eubanks (0-3 0-0 0, Will Smith 0.0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-66 4-10 78.
JCA (11-4), – Ethan Fair 5 4-6 16, Noah Lee 0 2-1 6, Braxton Brown 5 6-6 16, Braxton Brown 0 3-4 3, Braxton Brown 0 3-4 3, Braxton Brown 0 4-6 16, Braxton Brown 0 6-8 16, Braxton Brown 0 4-6 16, Braxton Brown 0 4-6 16, Braxton Brown 0 3-6 16, Braxton Brown 0 3-4 13, Braxton Brown 0 4-6 16, Braxton Brown 0 4-4, Cooper Bates 6 1-213, Hunter Brown 0-03. Totals 19-52 17-28 60.
Faith 19 26 25 8-78
JCA 9 14 19 – 60
3-point goals: Faith 12-37, Richerzhagen 2-9; Bell 1-2; Arevalo 4-11; Curlee 3-6. Ricard 2-3. Robinson 0-1, Harris 1-1, Robertson 2-1, Eubanks 0-3) JCA 5-22 (B. Brown 2, Lee 2, H. Brown Faith 38 (Curlee 12, Arevalo 10, 10); JCA 30, Foulled out by Robertson. Total fouls: Faith 27, JCA 14.
DONOHO 55, ASD 27 – Drew Williamson & Jordan Cameron scored 15 points each in the first quarter. The Falcons were off to a quick start. Cameron finished with 19 points and Rich Goad had 13.
DONOHO (10-5), – Jordan Cameron 8 0-0 13, Jack Wallace 1-1 3, Rich Goad 6 1-2 13, Drew Williamson 9 3-3 19, Sean Keel 2-2 4, Cash Worley 1-2 3, Sam Johnson 2-2 4. Totals 26 6-12 59.
ASD- Stacey Phillips 2-6 8, Taylor Dubose 0-4 2, Lakendrick agee 4 0-0 8, Trillien Wash 2 0-0 5, Peter Joseph Brownlee 2-0-0 4, Kris Williams 1 0-0 0, Dominick Jeff 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 2-10 27.
Donoho 23 12 19 5 – 59
ASD 7 8 5 7 7 – 27
3-point goals: Donoho 1, Cameron; ASD 1, Washington Total fouls: Donoho 11, ASD 13.
ALEXANDRIA 76 MOODY 72: Drake Davis is a big winner for the Valley Cubs and has had a great run against the Blue Devils.
This guard, who has made several impressive shots in recent games, had 26 points and 11 assists. He also managed to get two rebounds close to a triple-double. He shot 6-of-12 from the 3-point line and 8-of-10 at the free throw line. He now averages 13.8 points per game, shoots just under 50 percent from field, 40 percent from 3-point range and has 63 assists.
Antonio Ross scored 12 points, Kory Cargal had 20. T.K. Downie provided them with eight rebounds as well as six assists. The Valley Cubs made 21 of 25 free throws.
In a possible preview of the Calhoun County Tournament finals, the Cubs will host Jacksonville Friday night. Jacksonville is seeded No. 1, while Alexandria is No. 3.
