E.A. Sports Today

Thursday boys basketball

Garrett, Leonard lift Oxford to 20-point win over Gadsden City; Alexandria, Anniston, Jacksonville score wins, Donoho drops close one

Oxford’s Eugene Leonard pulls up for a jumper against Gadsden City as Zondrick Garrett moves into position for a potential rebound. On the cover, Garrett shows his dominance on the inside for the Jackets. (Photos by B.J. Franklin)

Thursday’s results
Alexandria 59, Glencoe 40
Anniston 49, Guntersville 43
Ashville 38, Ohatchee 32
Cornerstone 70, Donoho 68
Jacksonville 66, Pleasant Valley 28
Jacksonville Christian 70, Victory Christian 35
Moody 70, Winterboro 57
Oxford 81, Gadsden City 61
Saks 66, Wellborn 30
Southside 48, Westbrook 43
Spring Garden 70, Sand Rock 40

By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD – Zondrick Garrett was a dominating force in the middle Thursday night, scoring points, grabbing rebounds and blocking shots as Oxford pounded Gadsden City 81-61 at the Oxford Sports Arena.

Garrett, a junior, scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked eight shots in his most dominating performance of the season. When he scored, it was with a flourish. He had four dunks.

“Zondrick had a pretty good night,” Oxford coach Joel VanMeter said. “When he plays like that no one has an answer for him.”

Eugene Leonard added 19 points and Mont McClendon had 13 points as the Yellow Jackets (3-1) opened up a 24-point lead before calling off the dogs in the fourth quarter.

The Titans hung around for three quarters, but only led once – at 4-2 in the game. Dee Pearson’s sharp-shooting kept the Titans close, but they had no answer for the Oxford press and Garrett.

“I felt like our press performed pretty well, but it is only our fourth game and we have a ways to go,” VanMeter said. “Our press has some guys with great length, especially in our 13 press.”

Garrett came out strong for the Yellow Jackets, scoring nine points in the first quarter, blocking two shots (a goaltending call cost him another) and getting his first dunk. The Jackets went on a 10-point run late in the quarter to open an 11-point lead.

The Titans scored eight straight to tie the game at 27, but the Jackets answered with a 12-0 run to pull back ahead. McClendon buried two 3-pointers during the run as the Yellow Jackets took a 10-point lead into the half. Garrett sat most of the quarter on the bench with two fouls

Dee Pearson went off for 11 points in the third quarter as the Titans kept making runs at the Jackets’ lead. A dunk by Garrett and sophomore guard Justin Moore kept the Titans at bay and the Oxford press was beginning to wear down the Titans as the quarter ended.

It was all Oxford in the fourth quarter as Garrett and Leonard took over. Garrett started the quarter with a thunderous dunk and blocked five shots in the quarter. Leonard had nine in a 12-point run that saw the Jackets pull out to an 81-57 lead.

To see more photos from this game, visit www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com

Jacksonville 66, Pleasant Valley 28: The Golden Eagles shot 54 percent from the floor and got 33 points and 20 rebounds from their bench to win going away. Jayden Barksdale led the bench assault with 13 points and five rebounds. Also off the bench, Omarion Adams had nine points and three steals and Carter Landers grabbed six rebounds.

Alexandria 59, Glencoe 40: Big men Jalen Borders and Landan Williams combined for 25 points and the Valley Cubs (2-2) hit six 3-pointers to get back on the winning track. Borders, who recently signed a baseball scholarship with Belmont, had 11 of his 14 points in the second half, including one of the team’s 3s. Ten players scored for the Valley Cubs.

Cornerstone 70, Donoho 68: The Falcons rallied from 10 down with a little more than two minutes to play to tie the game with 30 seconds left, but couldn’t pull ahead. After Cornerstone went back on top, Amari Smedley had a chance to move Donoho closer from the free throw line in the closing seconds, but made just the front end of his one-and-one and the Falcons, trying to foul, ran out of time. Jacob LeCroy led the Falcons with 27 points. Seth Ford had 17, hitting five 3-pointers.

Anniston 49, Guntersville 43: Freshman Antonio Kite scored 17 points and dealt six assists as the Bulldogs bounced back from their season-opening loss at Sylacauga. Kwame Milton had eight points and 10 rebounds, while Malcolm Harvey had eight points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

THURSDAY’S BOYS BOX SCORES
Oxford 81, Gadsden City 61
GADSDEN CITY –
Zach Morgan 0 2-2 2, Dee Pearson 6 3-3 17, Tyler Tucker 0 0-0 0, Tyler Woods 0 2-2 2, Trey Woods 2 1-1 5, Rotavious Hicks 4 0-1 8, Demarcus Macon 1 0-0 2, Quinton Densmore 0 0-1 0, Cam Williams 3 1-2 7, Demetrius Huff 5 5-6 15, Elijah Blasingame 0 0-0 0, Zion Kirby 0 1-2 1. Totals 21 15-20 61.
OXFORD – Rylan Houck 3 2-2 8, Zondrick Garrett 8 4-6 20, Eugene Leonard 7 5-9 19, Mont McClendon 5 0-0 13, Kobe Warren 2 2-2 7, Rok Taylor 1 3-4 5, Cordell Chatman 0 0-0 0, Justin Moore 2 2-4 7, Milas Jackson 0 0-0 0, Trafton Houck 1 0-0 2, Andrew Cline 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 18-27 81.
Gadsden City 15 14 21 11 – 61
Oxford 25 14 16 26 – 81

3-point goals: Gadsden City 2 (Pearson 2); Oxford 5 (McClendon 3, Warren, Moore). Rebounds: Gadsden City 19 (D. Huff 5), Oxford 25 (Garrett 10). Technical fouls: Williams, McClendon. Fouled out: McClendon. Total fouls: Gadsden City 22, Oxford 21.

Jacksonville 66, Pleasant Valley 28
PLEASANT VALLEY –
Joshua Bellew 4-8 2-3 12, Wyatt Ingram 2-10 1-3 5, Coleman Haynes 1-4 0-0 3, Brody Phillips 1-5 0-0 2, Jackson Almaroad 1-1 0-0 2, Austin Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Connor Wolfe 0-2 1-4 1, Trenton Findley 0-0 1-2 1, Jacob Malsy 0-3 0-0 0, Garrett Crammer 0-2 0-0 0, Colby Gaines 0-1 0-0 0, Brayden Wright 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-39 5-12 28.
JACKSONVILLE – Jayden Barksdale 4-8 3-4 13, Omarion Adams 3-7 3-3 9, Yessmen Green 4-5 0-0 9, Kyrie Maynor 3-5 1-2 8, DeMarien Stewart 4-9 0-0 8, Donavon McCain 3-3 1-1 7, Jay Davis 2-4 0-0 5, Nathan Barnwell 2-3 0-0 4, Luke Jackson 1-3 1-2 3, Carter Landers 0-0 0-0 0, Hudson Harvey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-48 9-12 66.
Pleasant Valley 12 10 3 3 – 28
Jacksonville 13 22 27 4 – 66

3-point goals: Pleasant Valley 3-19 (Bellew 2-4, Ingram 0-6, Haynes 1-3, Phillips 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Wolfe 0-1, Malsy 0-1, Crammer 0-2); Jacksonville 5-15 (Barksdale 2-3, Adams 0-2, Green 1-2, Maynor 1-3, Stewart 0-2, Davis 1-2, Jackson 0-1). Rebounds: Pleasant Valley 22 (Haynes 3); Jacksonville 39 (Landers 6, McCain 6). Total fouls: Pleasant Valley 9, Jacksonville 12.

Alexandria 59, Glencoe 40
ALEXANDRIA (2-2) –
Seth Slaton 2 0-0 6, Adam Young 1 0-0 2, Dustin Warren 0 0-0 0, Collin Taylor 2 0-0 6, Julian Wright 2 0-0 4, Joe Tucker 1 0-0 3, Landon Comer 1 1-2 3, Romeo Dye 1 2-3 4, Jared Ponder 2 2-2 6, Khalil Francis 0 0-0 0, Jalen Borders 6 1-2 14, Landan Williams 5 1-3 11. Totals 23 7-12 59.
GLENCOE – Bryan Benefield 0 0-0 0, Christopher Lang 0 0-0 0, Landon McCarver 4 3-5 12, Colton Stone 1 0-2 2, Ethan Wells 5 3-4 15, Camden Harris 1 0-0 2, Colin Hardy 0 2-2 2, Brock Ondo 0 0-0 0, Collin Roberts 1 1-1 3, Camden Booker 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 9-14 40.
Alexandria 18 18 9 14 – 59
Glencoe 10 6 14 10 ¬– 40

3-point goals: Alexandria 6 (Slaton 2, Taylor 2, Tucker, Borders); Glencoe 3 (McCarver, Wells 2). Total fouls: Alexandria 21, Glencoe 12. Officials: Stringer, Stringer, Childs.

Cornerstone 70, Donoho 68
CORNERSTONE –
Trey Johnson 11 1-1 23, Jordun Thomas-Green 0 1-1 1, Rhyan Burks 5 2-2 16, Dakai Tatum-Lee 4 1-2 9, Leonard Jackson 1 0-0 3, Melvin Jones 1 0-0 2, Micah Jones 0 2-2 2, Samuel Williams 3 0-0 8, Preston London 2 0-2 5, Kennedy Leatherwood 0 1-2 1. Totals 27 8-12 70.
DONOHO – Seth Ford 6 0-0 17. Amari Smedley 1 5-8 8, Rod Elston 2 4-4 8, Reid Williamson 1 0-2 2, Jacob LeCroy 8 10-15 27, Chandler Armstrong 0 2-2 2 Dekali Garrett 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 21-31 68.
Cornerstone 10 23 21 16 – 70
Donoho 14 12 19 23 – 68

3-point goals: Cornerstone 8 (Burks 4, Jackson, Williams 2, London); Donoho 7 (Ford 5, Smedley, LeCroy), Technical fouls: Johnson, London. Fouled out: Johnson, London, Smedley.
Total fouls: Cornerstone 28, Donoho 15. Officials: Roberts, Lemon, Smith.

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