E.A. Sports Today

Courting crowns

Faith Christian, Oxford in position to win their respective Thanksgiving tournaments today, Anniston, White Plains suffer losses

BOYS GAMES
Glencoe Thanksgiving Classic
Faith Christian 73, Cleburne County 54
Fort Payne 69, Glencoe 37

Heritage Classic, Fairfield
Oxford 54, Pinson Valley 43

Lincoln Round-Robin
Lincoln 61, White Plains 59

Jag Classic, Spain Park
Bay (Fla.) 55, Chelsea 49
Dobyns-Bennett (Tenn.) 52, Arnold (Fla.) 34
Spain Park 78, Anniston 69
Homewood 70, Scottsboro 50

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

GLENCOE – It isn’t a tournament per se where teams advance through bracket play to hoist a champion’s trophy when it’s all over, but Cory Hughes said it sure would be nice to win the boys part of the Glencoe Thanksgiving Classic with a three-win sweep.

Especially after starting the season 0-3.

The 1A Lions completed the second leg of that triple crown Tuesday with its 73-54 victory over Cleburne County. Standing in the way of their sweep is a 6A Fort Payne team looking to do the same Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

“I think it would be a big moral victory for our guys,” Hughes said. “We have played some tough teams early and so for them to see we can come and beat a 3A school (Glencoe), a 4A school (Cleburne County) and a 6A school that would be a big, big moral victory.”

The Lions (2-3) got a pair of 20-point games from Thomas Curlee and Ethan Richerzhagen against the Tigers to score a second straight win for their new coach.

Curlee followed his 29-point game in the opener with 25 Tuesday. Richerzhagen had 22 points, with seven rebounds and four assists. Jacques Prater had 11 points and six assists.

Curlee has been on a tear since being limited in the opener by a sprained ankle he suffered in a preseason scrimmage and declares him “100 percent.” He was 11-of-17 from the floor against the Tigers, Has scored at least 20 points in three of his last four games and is averaging 22.3 points in his last four games.

For the season, Curlee has scored 99 points in the Lions’ first five games, just about a 20-point average. Richerzhagen has 97 in their first five and Prater is averaging almost nine a game.

“The last two games, the biggest thing for Thomas has been Ethan’s facilitating,” Hughes said. “Ethan and I had a talk Sunday and I told him if you can get our other four playing and scoring that would be really good. He’s done that the last two games and Thomas has been the one to take off.

“I attribute a lot of that to Ethan. But Thomas, he’s ball hungry. He’s got a nose for it. I told Ethan one thing you could do that Thomas is doing is just crash the boards. Thomas just goes after every little thing he can get … If we got two guys doing that, it’s going to be dangerous.”

The Lions never trailed against the Tigers. Curlee and Richerzhagen opened the game with back-to-back 3 for the Lions and they were off. They led by 11 at halftime, then opened the second half an 11-0 run strated by two more 3s from Richerzhagen.

Curlee knows how important winning Wednesday could be for the Lions. They came into the event without a win and could leave with a .500 record.

“It means a lot,” he said. “We started out slow, oh-and-3, and we come in here ready to play. If we can come out with a third win tomorrow, it’ll mean a lot. It’ll show the work that we’ve done. It didn’t show in the first three games, but it’s showing now.”

GLENCOE THANKSGIVING CLASSIC
Faith Christian 73, Cleburne County 54
FAITH CHRSTIAN (2-3) –
Yashua Arevalo 3-6 1-2 7, Jacques Prater 4-9 1-2 11, Thomas Curlee 11-17 0-2 25, Ethan Richerzhagen 7-20 5-8 22, Brady Whitworth 0-0 0-0 0, Brodie Dodson 0-3 0-0 0, Demonde Bell 2-4 0-2 4, Eli Robinson 1-1 0-0 2, Colton Pahman 0-5 2-2 2, Damian Arevalo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-66 9-18 73.
CLEBURNE COUNTY (0-2) –Dayleon Brown 3 0-0 4, Andrew Adams 1 1-2 3, Brody Higgins 0 0-0 0, Joel Campbell 0 0-0 0, Grant Harcrow 3 3-4 10, Jackson Miller 0 0-0 0, Jaylan Groce 3 1-2 7, Ron Ervin 0 0-0 0, Dawson Haynes 0 0-0 0, Dee Prothro 3 3-4 9, Kyler McGrinn 4 0-0 8, Isaac Marshall 0 2-2 2, Aleick Whatley 0 0-0 0, Grey Freeman 4 0-0 8. Totals 21-51 10-14 54.
Faith Christian                   19  20 14  20  –  73
Cleburne County               15  13    8  18 –  54 
3-point goals: Faith 8-28 (Prater 2-5, Curlee 3-7, Richerzhagen 3-9, Y. Arevalo 0-1, Pahman 0-3, Dodson 0-3); Cleburne Co. 2-12 (Brown, Harcrow). Technical fouls: Higgins. Fouled out: Y. Arevalo. Total fouls: Faith 15, Cleburne Co. 22. Officials: Horn, Davis, Robinson.

Heritage Classic, Fairfield

OXFORD 54, PINSON VALLEY 43: Rylan Houck scored 23 points and Kyler Wright returned to the lineup to drop in 10 as the Yellow Jackets advanced to the tournament’s championship game. They will play Minor Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.

Wright missed Monday’s opening-round victory over Jackson-Olin with sore ankles. He was back in action, but the Jackets played without Zurrell Garrett, who suffered a shoulder sprain in Monday’s game.

Mike McGraw also had 10 points for the Jackets. 

Oxford 54, Pinson Valley 43
OXFORD –
Jaylen Alexander 0 0-0 0, Rylan Houck 9 3-3 23, Kyler Wright 4 1-3 10, Aaron McFarland 0 0-0 0, J.D. Jones 3 0-0 7, Mike McGraw 4 2-2 10, Jayden Lewis 2 0-2 4, Ashton Mitchell 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 6-10 
PINSON VALLEY –Caleb White 3 7-8 14, Isaiah Sims 2 0-1 4, Terry Coner 5 2-4 13, Austin Coner 0 0-0 0, T.J. Judkins 1 0-0 3, Cam White 2 0-0 5, Raymon McCants 0 0-0 0, Riley Sigler 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 9-13 43.
Oxford                     13  11 14  16  –  54
Pinson Valley       4  11   6  22  – 43
3-point goals: Oxford 4 (Houck 2, Wright, Jones); Pinson Valley 4 (Cal. White, T. Coner, Judkins, C. White). Total fouls: Oxford 17, Pinson Valley 14. Officials: Coleman, Davis, Williams.

Lincoln Round-Robin

LINCOLN 61, WHITE PLAINS 59: Lincoln’s Jayden Woods hit two free throws with three seconds left to win it after White Plains missed a one-and-one with 11 seconds to go to take the lead.

The Wildcats put four scorers in double figures, led by Walker Osteen’s game-high 19. Josh Wheeler had 17, behind five 3-pointers, Cole Senciboy had 11 and Dylan Barksdale had 10.

Woods and Korey Davis scored 17 points each for Lincoln. The Bears were 17-of 29 from the free throw line in the game.

Lincoln 61, White Plains 59
WHITE PLAINS –
Tucker Pearson 0 0-0 0, Paul Laube 1 0-0 2, Dylan Barksdale 4 2-2 10, Cole Senciboy 5 0-0 11, Josh Wheeler 6 0-2 17, ZJ Rosario 0 0-0 0, Braden Knight 0 0-0 0, Daniel Williams 0 0-0 0, Walker Osteen 8 2-4 19, Kendrick Ball 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 4-8 59.
LINCOLN –Korry Davis 5 7-11 17, Tripp Ward 1 0-2 3, Camare Hampton 4 4-8 13, Isaiah Ashley 1 0-2 2, Jayden Woods 4 6-6 17, Jai Tanner 2 0-0 9. Totals 18 17-29 61.
White Plains       18  15  16  10  –  59
Lincoln                 12  16  19  14  –  61
3-point goals: White Plains 7 (Senciboy, Wheeler 5, Osteen); Lincoln 8 (Ward, Hampton, Woods 3, Tanner 3). Total fouls: White Plains 23, Lincoln 14. Officials: Smith, Jackson, Lue.

Jag Classic, Spain Park

SPAIN PARK 78, ANNISTON 69: The Bulldogs were missing three injured regulars and fell to the host Jaguars. Guard Mark Toyer (knee) and forward Kam Sandlin (ankle) got hurt in Monday’s season-opening win over Bay (Fla.) and Tadyn Jones is still recovering from injuries during the football season.

Anniston will play Scottsboro in Wednesday’s consolation game. Spain Park will play Homewood for the title. The Jags are now 2-0 against Calhoun County’s best, having also beaten Jacksonville earlier this year

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