Jackets come up short
- Updated: November 11, 2021
Oxford rallies from 10 down in fourth quarter to tie the game, but miss a shot at buzzer and fall to Hueytown
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
BIRMINGHAM —The bus ride back to Oxford might be an uncomfortable one given what might have been, but there is one thing the Yellow Jackets can fall back on that might smooth out the bumps.
The Jackets opened their basketball season Thursday afternoon with a 52-50 loss to Hueytown in the Tip-Off Classic at Ramsay High School.
The two-point loss stung, but the Jackets can take solace in knowing their relatively inexperienced lineup rallied from 10 down to start the fourth quarter and had the ball at the end with a chance to win or tie.
“Obviously, we don’t have that experience, but you have kids who want to win; they want to fight to win,” Jackets senior forward Rylan Houck said. “You make mistakes but the team got over it. It was the fourth quarter and nobody’s heads dropped. Great body language, everything. We’re ready to play and go win the game.”
Oxford trailed 46-36 going into the fourth. Kyler Wright’s 3-pointer with 1:11 to play tied the game at 50. Hueytown took the lead on Jalynn Lacey’s basket in the lane with 40 seconds left.
The Jackets got the ball with 12.3 seconds left after Hueytown’s sensational Corey Stephenson missed the front end of a one-and-one. They called time to set up the final play.
They got the ball across midcourt but the Golden Gophers’ Edarius Cowart was in Houck’s chest the whole way and kept him from driving over the top, which threw the entire play in disarray.
Houck kicked it over to Mike McGraw who found Wright on the left side of the arc. With time running down Wright launched a 3 and missed off the left side iron as the horn sounded.
“The first 3 was just a rhythm 3,” Wright said. “It was a good pass by my teammates so I didn’t really think about it, I just kind of shot it; a good shot. The second one, the play we were supposed to be running got kind of broke up so it was kind of just a scramble and I came up short on it.”
Early on the game was a shot-for-shot shootout between Stephenson and Houck.
Stephenson scored 15 of his team’s first 19 points and finished with 30. He made big baskets at the end of each of the first three quarters to keep Hueytown ahead.
Houck, who signed with Lipscomb Thursday, opened the game with a pair of 3s and scored 14 of the Jackets’ first 16 but had only two field goals in the final three quarters. He finished with 26. He was 10 of 12 from the line, 6-of-8 in the fourth-quarter comeback.
When the Gophers started taking Houck away, the Jackets just didn’t have the experience for someone else to be more aggressive on offense to pick up that slack.
“Regardless of what I want, we’ve got one guy who’s proven on the varsity level so everybody else is going to be a process,” Oxford coach Joel Van Meter said. “And they’re good, so the fact we were able to climb our way back in it makes you feel good. We fought, we clawed and that’s what we’ve got to be.
“I don’t think they all understand quite yet how hard we have to play. They’ll learn that, but they don’t know it yet. We’re not playing the area tournament tomorrow. This is a process.”
OXFORD GIRLS WIN: Oxford’s girls won their season opener 57-43 at Spain Park. The Lady Jackets put four of their five starters in double figures, led by Xai Whitfield (13) and Lauren Ellard (12).
Ellard and Leah Taylor scored six points apiece in the third quarter as the Lady Jackets turned a one-point halftime deficit into a 12-point lead. They each scored 10 in the second half.
“(Spain Park) played their tails off and made us work for everything,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said. “I’m proud of how our girls dug in the second half and gritted out a tough win.”
BOYS GAME
Hueytown 52, Oxford 50
OXFORD (0-1) – Jaylen Alexander 0 0-1 0, Zurrell Garrett 1 0-0 2, Rylan Houck 7 10-12 26, Kyler Wright 2 5-6 10, Aaron McFarland 0 0-0 0, Jadarian Jones 2 2-2 7, Mike McGraw 0 1-2 1, Jayden Lewis 2 0-0 4, Totals 14 18-22 50.
HUEYTOWN (2-0) – Melvin Stringer 2 0-0 6, Corey Stephenson 10 8-10 30, Edarius Cowart 4 0-0 8, Michael Dale 1 0-0 2, Jalynn Lacey 3 0-0 6, Joel Whiten 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 8-10 52.
| Oxford | 16 | 10 | 10 | 14 – | 50 |
| Hueytown | 19 | 15 | 12 | 6 – | 52 |
3-point goals: Oxford 4 (Houck 2, Wright, Jones); Hueytown 4 (Stringer 2, Stephenson 2). Total fouls: Oxford 13, Hueytown 18.
GIRLS GAME
Oxford 57, Spain Park 43
OXFORD (1-0) – Justice Woods 5 0-2 11, Xai Whitfield 5 1-2 13, Lauren Ellard 3 4-5 12, LaMya McGrue 1 0-0 2, Leah Taylor 4 0-0 10, JaMea Gaston 2 1-2 6, Keziah Mickler 1 0-0 3, Sheniya Calloway 0 0-0 0, Kaylen Kenney 0 0-0 0, Mikiya Wilson 0 0-0 0, Jaslyn Montgomery 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 6-11 57.
SPAIN PARK (0-2) – Zyian Heyligar 0 0-0 0, Victoria Flournoy 3 0-1 9, Kerri Barnes 0 0-0 0, Indiana Gannett 0 0-0 0, Charlee Bennett 2 0-0 5, Camille Chase 4 1-3 12, Alex Baskin 4 2-5 10, Paxton Gillispie 2 3-6 7. Totals 15 6-15 43.
| Oxford | 13 | 11 | 16 | 17 – | 57 |
| Spain Park | 9 | 16 | 3 | 15 – | 43 |
3-point goals: Oxford 9 (Woods, Whitfield 2, Ellard 2, Taylor 2, Gaston, Mickler); Spain Park 7 (Flournoy 3, Bennett, Chase 3). Fouled out: Ellard, McGrue. Technical fouls: Baskin. Total fouls: Oxford 21, Spain Park 14.
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