E.A. Sports Today

Odam reaches 1,000

Boys roundup: Piedmont freshman hits milestone with final basket in 37-point game against Pleasant Valley

Thursday’s boys scores
Jacksonville 69, Hokes Bluff 32
Jacksonville Christian 79, Donoho 47
Lincoln 75, Cleburne County 46
Ohatchee 69, Coosa Christian 41
Piedmont 76, Pleasant Valley 44
Ragland 71, ASD 50
Saks 57, Ashville 51
Winterboro 57, Victory Christian 28
 
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
 
PIEDMONT –Freshman Alex Odam scored a career-high 37 points and hit the 1,000-point plateau on his final basket of the night with 3:20 left in Piedmont’s 76-44 victory over Pleasant Valley Thursday night.
 
Odam was 11-of-17 from the floor against the Raiders and reached the milestone with his fourth 3-pointer of the game. He also was 11-of-12 from the free throw line, hitting his last 10 in a row. He also had four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
 
“It was a one of the best moments of my basketball career,” Odam said. “I had no idea going into the game. I was probabaly the last person to know. I was just feeling it early on and at the end (as it got closer) my dad kept telling me to shoot it.
 
“My teammates did a great job of feeding me tonight and every night when I’m hot,” he said. “They’re just great. I couldn’t do it without them.”

Odam has been on the varsity since the seventh grade. It takes most players an entire career to hit the milestone he did Thursday night, but Odam needed only 67 games to reach his first 1,000 (a 14.9 career average)..
 
“I guess it really did surprise me getting it so fast, only playing a little more than two years,” he said. “I thought I could eventually get it in my career, especially when I started on the varsity so early in my career, but I definitely didn’t think it’d come this early.”
 
The last Piedmont player Bulldogs coach JoJo Odam can remember joining the 1,000-point Club was Taylor Hayes. Odam said there have been more than a half-dozen 1,000-point scorers since he’s been at the school.
 
“It’s special anytime anybody does it,” coach Odam said. “Being your own kid who does it, it was special.”

At the rate Alex is going you’d think he’d have a shot at becoming Calhoun County’s all-time leading scorer before he’d done and maybe even challenge current Lindsay Lane senior Tommy Murr for the state’s all-time scoring record of more than 4,500 points (and counting).
 
“I don’t know if I’ll get that many,” Odam said. “He’s putting big numbers up there.”
 
Clay County’s Lance Weems has the most career points of anyone in this part of the state, according to the AHSAA. Weems scored 3,660 points in a career that spanned from 1989 to 1992. Clay County’s Billy Ross had 3,393 from 1985-89. Deon Harris had 3,034 for ASD from 1983-87 and Chase Whitley had 2,877 for Cleburne County from 2004-07. There are no Calhoun County players among the AHSAA’s top 33 all-time scorers.

The game was close early. Pleasant Valley was down two with 40 seconds left in the first quarter and had the ball, but turned it over and Piedmont went on the first of its runs to pull away. The Bulldogs (14-2, 6-0 area) led by seven after the first quarter and by 19 at halftime. Odam had 20 at the break.
 
Josh Ballew, who scored 43 in his last game, led PV again with 28 points. He was 13-of-15 from the free throw line. He is 33-of-38 from the line in his last two games.

Piedmont 76, Pleasant Valley 44
PLEASANT VALLEY (7-10) –
Josh Ballew 6 13-15 28, Garrett Cranmer 1 2-2 4, Coleman Haynes 0 0-0 0, Jamie Winningham 1 0-0 2, Damon Parr 1 0-0 2, Jake Malsy 0 0-2 0, Brayden Wright 0 0-0 0, Brody Phillips 1 0-0 3, Wyatt Ingram 0 0-0 0, Jake Upton 1 0-0 3, Trent Findley 1 0-1 2. Totals 12 15-20 44.
PIEDMONT (14-2) – Alex Odam 11 11-12 37, Omarrion Foster 2 0-0 4, Luke Bussey 2 0-0 6, Trey McFarland 1 2-3 4, Silas Thompson 4 0-0 8, Jack Hayes 1 0-0 2, Malachi Jackson 3 0-0 8, Jakari Fosterr 3 0-0 7. Totals 27 13-15 76.
 
Pleasant Valley   10  11  11 12  –  44
Piedmont              17  23 24  12  –  76
3-point goals: Pleasant Valley 5 (Ballew 3, Phillips, Upton); Piedmont 9 (Odam 4, Bussey 2, Jackson 2, J. Foster). Total fouls: Pleasant Valley 12, Piedmont 16.

Jacksonville 69, Hokes Bluff 32

HOKES BLUFF – Cam Johnson and Q Long, two players who were on the B-Team roster at the start of the season, scored 14 and 12, points respectively as the Golden Eagles gained a bit of separation – for one day at least – in the Class 4A Area 10 race.
 
The win moved Jacksonville to 3-1 in area play, a half-game ahead of Cherokee County and White Plains, who play each other Friday at White Plains.
 
Johnson was 5-of-6 from the field, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Long was 5-of-8 with a pair of 3-pointers. 
 
Jacksonville 69, Hokes Bluff 32
JACKSONVILLE (13-3) –
Cam Johnson 5-6 0-0 14, Q Long 5-8 0-0 12, Caden Johnson 3-9 2-2 9, Kyrie Maynor 4-8 0-0 9, John Broom 3-8 0-1 6, Nathan Barnwell 2-4 1-2 5, Jacob McCarley 2-2 0-1 4, Yessman Green 1-4 2-2 4, Jalen Morton 1-1 0-0 3, Ron Wiggins 1-1 0-0 2, Luke Jackson 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 27-53 6-10 69
HOKES BLUFF – Dustin Rainey 3-7 1-2 9, Caleb McGinnis 3-7 0-0 6, Ashton Gulledge 2-4 1-2 6, Jordan Presley 1-4 0-0 3, John Preston Fairel 1-1 0-0 3, Coby Latham 1-3 0-0 3, Tucker Marsh 1-2 0-0 2, Jalen Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Connor Faulkner 0-1 0-0 0, Payton Lemons 0-3 0-2 0, Jackson Millander 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-32 2-6 32.
 
Jacksonville         17  19 24  9    –  69
Hokes Bluff          7    5   8    12   –  32
3-point goals: Jacksonville 9-24 (Cm. Johnson 4-5, Long 2-5, Cd. Johnson 1-5, Maynor 1-3, Broom 0-1, Barnwell 0-1, Green 0-2, Morton 1-1, Jackson 0-1); Hokes Bluff 6-19 (Rainey 2-6, McGinnis 0-1, Gulledge 1-2, Presley 1-4, Fairel 1-1, Latham 1-3, Lemons 0-2). Rebounds: Jacksonville 28 (Broom 6, Barnwell 5); Hokes Bluff 29 (McGinnis 6, Marsh 6). Total fouls: Jacksonville 8, Hokes Bluff 9.

Lincoln 75, Cleburne County 46

HEFLIN – Javion Surles scored 16 of his 22 points in the half and Garrett had all 18 of his points in the first two quarters as the Golden Bears opened a 49-17 lead.  Daleon Brown led the Tigers with 17 points, 15 in the second half. The Golden Bears and Anniston will play in the 2-3 game of the Class 4A Area 9 tournament later this year. Cleburne County draws top seed and host Talladega.
 
Lincoln 75, Cleburne County 46
LINCOLN –
Javion Surles 10 0-0 22, Cam Reynolds 1 0-0 3, Kye Patterson 1 2-2 5, Stephen White 4 5-10 13, Siete Garrett 1 0-1 2, Brian Garrett 7 2-2 18, Tristian Payton 2 0-0 4, Jayden Woods 0 0-0 0, Jafrondric Davis 4 0-0 8, Tre Hines 0 0-0 0, Latavious Wilson 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 9-15 75.
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Rico Jordan 1 0-0 2, Hudson Miller 0 0-0 0, Reese Morrison 3 0-0 8, Daleon Brown 7 2-3 17, Manney Rollins 0 0-0 0, Ben Casey 4 6-7 14, Lucas Harcrow 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 8-10 46.
 
Lincoln                20  29 20  6  –  75
Cleburne Co.      8    9   18  11 – 46 
3-point goals: Lincoln 6 (Surles 2, Reynolds, Patterson, B. Garrett). Cleburne County 4 (Morrison 2, Brown, Harcrow). Technical fouls: Surles. Total fouls: Lincoln 16, Cleburne County 13.

Ohatchee 69, Coosa Christian 41

GADSDEN – Austin Wyatt scored six points in each of the first three quarters and finished with a team-high 18 points. Jacob Bowers and Briley Hall had 11 points apiece.
 
Ohatchee 69, Coosa Christian 41
OHATCHEE (6-9) –
Blake Hollis 3 0-0 8, Trey Pesnell 1 0-0 3, Easterwood 0 0-0 0, Cam Foushee 2 2-3 6, Jacob Bowers 5 0-0 11, Drake Hollis 3 0-1 7, Jared McFall 0 0-0 0, Austin Wyatt 9 0-0 18, Briley Hale 5 1-3 11, Michael Buckelew 2 0-0 5. Totals 30 3-7 69.
COOSA CHRISTIAN – Elijah Cole 0 0-0 0, Dartavious Britton 0 1-2 1, Julian Ford 1 2-2 4, Evan Delp 9 4-7 22, Elijah Smith 1 0-0 3, Hunter Millirons 0 0-0 0, Isiah Cole 4 0-0 11. Totals 15 7-11 41
 
Ohatchee               17  23  23  6    –  69
Coosa                      9    9    10  13  –  41
3-point goals: Ohatchee 6 (B. Hollins 2, Pesnell, Bowers, D. Hollis, Buckelew); Coosa 4 (Smith, I. Cole 3). Total fouls: Ohatchee 9, Coosa 9. Officials: Hollingsworth, Belyeu, Taylor.

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