Payback is, well, …
- Updated: January 13, 2016
Anniston beats Alexandria to clinch home court advantage in area playoffs; Ross, Croft both go for 20
By Jason Katz
For East Alabama Sports Today
The Anniston Bulldogs motivated themselves for their rematch Tuesday against Alexandria by one thing — revenge.
For DeQuan Ross, it meant making sure losing to the Valley Cubs wouldn’t happened again.
With home court advantage in the area playoffs on the line, the Bulldogs made the quick trip to Alexandria for a chance at revenge. They were tested throughout the night, but prevailed in the end, 59-47.
Ross and Tray Croft led the charge. Both scored 20 points, with Ross scoring 13 points in the first half and Croft scoring 18 in the second.
“Tonight I really wanted to come out strong,” Ross said. “Losing to them at home was not fun at all, so it was sweet to come up to their place and get a W and clinch the home court advantage for our area.”
Ross also grabbed 12 rebounds. These two along with scattered scoring by their counterparts allowed the Bulldogs to pull away and get the win.
“We know we are a good team,” Ross said. “We just have to play together and keep moving forward and it will all fall into place. Intensity is key to our success, and tonight we proved that.”
Ross was all smiles as he talked about coming from Alexandria as a young high-schooler and getting the chance to beat his old team on their court.
“I know all the Alexandria guys and they are close to me,” he said. “I came over here when I was in tenth grade and ever since then any chance I get to beat them is special.”
Losing Ross to Anniston and losing the game as well was obviously deflating for Alexandria (11-3), which had won three straight area games on consecutive nights to get in the position they were in Tuesday night, but there were many positives for them to take away as well. They stayed in the game until late in the fourth quarter when the lack of scoring created separation in the last few minutes.
Caleb Young led the Valley Cubs with 18 points and eight rebounds. Riley Shaw had 10 and Dalton Dodd had eight, while Luke Tucker had five points and eight rebounds.
“Turnovers killed us and we just could not score in the second half,” Valley Cub senior Luke Tucker said. “Taking any loss is hard, but we will bounce back and get another shot at them. We beat them at their place and they beat us at ours, but there will be other chances. We play them so much and it’s become a big rivalry game for us.”
The rivalry will continue on for the rest of the season as both team look to each have the upper hand in the area and continue their push towards the playoffs.
Tonight though the upper hand went to the Bulldogs and their ex-Alexandria player who shined in his homecoming.
“We are the best team in the area,” said Ross. “One team at a time we will prove it.”
Saks 68, Cleburne County 52: Saks bounced back from a tough double-overtime loss the day before to score an important area victory. Jayden Britt had 18 points. Phonso Ward had 12 of his 17 in a big Wildcats’ first half. Twelve Wildcats scored.
Piedmont 67, Wellborn 65: Piedmont wins on last-second shot; Wellborn rallies from 13 down to lead by six before final flurry. Easton Kirk leads four Piedmont scorers in double figures with 15 (five 3-pointers). Blake Hanson had 18 of his 28 in the second half for Wellborn; Jaylun Kelley had 11 of his 15 in the second half.
Sacred Heart 71, Faith Christian 42: Diante Wood goes for 22 points, 14 rebounds; Kevion Nolan matches his number with 23 points.
Jacksonville 66, Spring Garden 48: Casey Trull scores 24 points, grabs 19 rebounds, Cam Horton gets 24; they were a combined 19-26 from the field.
White Plains 70, Weaver 62: Eli Hightower hits five 3s in 20-point night; Malik Arnold has 20 for Weaver; Bearcats played without Forbes, Heath.
Oxford 60, Pell City 48: Jakolbie McClendon scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Yellow Jackets improved to 2-0 in their area. The Jackets rallied from a four-point halftime deficit with a big second half.
Other games
JCA 76, Gaylesville 48
St. Clair County at Lincoln
Talladega at Clay Central
TUESDAY’S BOYS BOXSCORES
Anniston 59 Alexandria 47
ANNISTON — Chris Beard 2 0-2 4, Davion Tippins 1 0-0 2, DeQuan Ross 9 1-2 20, Hakeem Ross 1 1-6 3, Leonard Brown 0 0-0 0, Marrio Dobbins 1 2-6 4, Tae Miller 1 0-0 3, Tray Croft 5 10-15 20, Willie Thomas 1 2-2 4, Chris Beard 2 0-2 4. Totals 23 16-35 59.
ALEXANDRIA — Riley Shaw 3 2-3 10, Chase Smitherman 0 0-0 0, Austin Taylor 0 0-0 0, A.J. Martin 0 0-2 0, Dalton Dodd 4 0-0 8, Gerald Murphy 0 0-0 0, Cole Nail 0 0-0 0, Jamal Tucker 1 0-1 2, Jordan Romine 0 0-0 0, Caleb Young 7 2-5 18, Marcus Swink 2 0-0 4, Luke Tucker 2 0-0 5. Totals 19 4-11 47.
Anniston 19 9 7 24 — 59
Alexandria 15 13 7 12 — 47
3-point goals: Anniston 2 (D. Ross, Miller); Alexandria 4 (Shaw 2, Young, L. Tucker). Fouled out: J. Tucker. Total fouls: Anniston 15, Alexandria 21. Officials: Stringer, Warren, Oden.
White Plains 70, Weaver 62
WEAVER — Craig Copeland 4 1-1 11, Paul Hubbard 0 0-0 0, London Knight 3 0-0 6, Dalton Hamby 1 0-0 2, R.J. Wooden 1 0-0 3, Maurice Goodman 1 0-0 3, Gio Mosley 4 4-4 14, Malik Arnold 6 8-15 20, Ducky Morris 1 1-2 3. Totals 21 14-22 62.
WHITE PLAINS — Jared Guthrie 5 0-0 12, Dylan McCareeth 0 0-0 0, Kevin Carr 3 0-0 7, Eli Hightower 6 3-5 20, Michael McGuirk 5 2-2 12, Jackson Guthrie 0 1-2 1, Quez Wyatt 2 0-0 5, Lawrence Jackson 2 0-0 4, Macey Carr 1 0-0 2, Murphy Doss 3 0-0 7, Brett Beaver 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 6-9 70.
Weaver 15 12 14 21 — 62
White Plains 19 22 17 12 — 70
3-point goals: Weaver 6 (Copeland 2, Wooden, Goodman, Mosley 2); White Plains 10 (Je. Guthrie 2, K. Carr, Hightower 5, Wyatt, Doss). Total fouls: Weaver 10, White Plains 16. Officials: Washington, Davis, Wright.
Piedmont 67, Wellborn 65
PIEDMONT – A.J. Fairs 0 0-0 0, Darnell Jackson 6 1-3 13, Taylor Hayes 6 1-5 14, Easton Kirk 5 1-2 15, Cardavian Myers 1 3-4 5, Bayley Blanchard 2 1-7 5, Austin Brazier 6 1-2 13, T.J. Fairs 0 2-4 2. Totals 26 10-27 67.
WELLBORN – Mitchell Raines 0 0-2 0, Eric Johnson 2 0-0 4, Quan Moore 2 0-0 4, Ked Harris 0 0-0 0, Jordan Montgomery 5 0-0 12, Junior Towns 1 0-0 2, Jaylun Kelley 7 1-2 15, Blake Hanson 11 1-3 28. Totals 28 2-5 65.
Piedmont 15 20 17 15 — 67
Wellborn 13 9 22 21 — 65
3-point goals: Piedmont 5 (Hayes, Kirk 4); Wellborn 7 (Montgomery 2, Hanson 5). Technical foul: Hanson. Fouled out: Montgomery. Total fouls: Piedmont 11, Wellborn 20. Officials: Batey, Hollingsworth, Maske.
Saks 68, Cleburne County 52
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Noah Ware 0 0-0 0, Avery Gentry 3 1-2 7, Joshua Brown 2 0-0 4, Jeremiah Blake 4 0-0 9, Brock Swafford 0 0-0 0, Jacob Le 3 2-2 8, Stashun Henson 5 2-4 12, Taylor Rice 5 0-1 10, John Robinson 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 5-9 52.
SAKS — Jalen Wynn 2 1-4 5, Demetrius Powell 1 1-2 3, Quay McCord 1 0-2 2, Quin Smith 1 0-0 2, Jaylen Britt 5 6-7 18, JJ Murry 0 0-3 0, Davieuntae Booker 0 1-2 1 Malik Burns 1 0-0 2, Phonso Ward 7 2-3 17, Mario Burnette 4 0-2 8, Tray Hughley 3 0-0 6, Darion Briskey 1 0-0 2, Landun Peters 1 0-2 2. Totals 27 11-27 68.
Cleburne County 13 10 12 17 — 52
Saks 20 24 12 12 — 68
3-point goals: Cleburne Co. 1 (Blake); Saks 3 (Britt 2, Ward). Fouled out: Henson. Total fouls: Cleburne Co. 18, Saks 13. Officials: Strong, Woods, Truss.
Jacksonville 66, Spring Garden 48
SPRING GARDEN – Riley Austin 4-13 4-5 12, Dillon Rogers 2-8 6-6 12, Dakota Lambert 3-10 3-4 11, Ben Ivey 2-3 4-6 8, Draven Bowman 1-11 0-0 3, Joe Rogers 0-1 2-4 2, Avery Gowens 0-0 0-0 0, Tanner Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Ashton Rogers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-47 19-25 48.
JACKSONVILLE – Casey Trull 10-13 4-8 24, Cam Horton 9-13 4-6 24, Taye Ackles 3-11 3-3 9, Martavious Long 2-5 0-1 4, Will Fuller 1-1 0-0 2, K.J. Satcher 1-1 0-0 2, Alex Gilbert 0-1 1-2 1, Jay Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Tahj Kirkland 0-1 0-0 0, Blake Morris 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron Bragg 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Davis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-48 12-20 66.
Spring Garden 9 14 16 9 — 48
Jacksonville 21 15 14 16 — 66
3-point goals: Spring Garden 5-24 (Austin 0-3, D. Rogers 2-5, Lambert 2-5, Ivey 0-1, Bowman 1-8, J. Rogers 0-1, Parker 0-1); Jacksonville 2-13 (Horton 2-5, Ackles 0-5, Davis 0-1, Kirkland 0-1, Bragg 0-1). Rebounds: Spring Garden 26 (Austin 7, Ivey 7); Jacksonville 40 (Trull 19). Total fouls: Spring Garden 19, Jacksonville 22.
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