Karma, year later
- Updated: December 29, 2022
Jacksonville holds off Buckhorn in Huntsville City Classic, buzzer beater that went against it last year waved off this time; Oxford comes up short, but player emerges; Curlee, Williamson, Ross all have big games in their tournaments
THURSDAY’S BOYS GAMES
Heflin Holiday Hoops Classic
Woodland 39, Ranburne 38
Cleburne County 58, Ohatchee 40
Faith Christian 73, Weaver 59
Championship Game: Clay Central 50, Vincent 39
Comer Christmas Classic
Consolation game: Shelby County 59, Wadley 27
Championship game: B.B. Comer 69, Glencoe 51
Gaylesville Christmas Tournament
Boys Games
Donoho 72, Gaylesville 42
Westbrook Christian 44, Collinsville 35
Huntsville City Classic
Madison Academy 63, Madison Academy 59
Lee-Huntsville 70, Columbia 66
Westminster 56, Oxford 47
Austin 61, Haleyville 59
Jacksonville 70, Buckhorn 67
Bob Jones 51, Huntsville 46
Championship game: Sparkman 64, Baker 52
JCA Holiday Classic
Cedar Bluff 71, Wellborn 53
Jacksonville Christian 78, Gaston 69
Supreme Courts Christmas Tournament
Alexandria 82, Falkville 39
Piedmont 69, Fyffe 68
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
HUNTSVILLE — It may take a while, but karma always finds its way.
Jacksonville waited a whole year to get some. The Golden Eagles held off Buckhorn 70-67 Thursday to get away from the Huntsville City Classic with the fifth-place trophy, but it wasn’t without plenty of drama.
They were up 10 with two minutes to play (64-54), but it was a two-point game with 3.7 seconds left. Cam Johnson hit a free throw for the final margin, but it wasn’t over.
After Johnson made the first free throw, he missed the second. With all the Jacksonville defenders off the line, the Bucks rebounded and Carter Malires fired up a 3 from the right wing a few feet behind the arc that went through for an apparent tie, but officials waved it off without hesitation for being too late for the horn.
Ironically, it was a year ago Wednesday the Golden Eagles got beat here by Spanish Fort on an overtime 3 at the buzzer by Kolby Horace they’re still debating whether it beat the clock.
“I can’t remember if it was (assistant coach) Lane Patterson or Miss (Hilarie) Howard, but one of them did mention that,” said Golden Eagles coach Tres Buzan, who was Jacksonville’s girls coach last year and not on the trip. “They were like I think this is karma coming back around on the good side for us because we got screwed on it last year.
“The shot today was definitely late. It wasn’t a bad call. But I was glad they made the right call this time around.”
It was back and forth like that all game. Jacksonville opened the second quarter with a 15-0 run to take a 30-9 lead, but Buckhorn rallied to win the quarter 22-21 and only go into the break down five.
“It was definitely a game of runs,” Buzan said. “We made our run early and they made one right back at us. That’s a really good team we beat today, so I’m just proud of the guys. They played their butts off. Playing the fourth game in three days everybody’s exhausted and when it came down to the end right there they really stepped it out and got a win against a quality opponent. It was good to see us tough it out.”
John Broom, Johnson and Devin Barksdale led Jacksonville with 22, 19 and 18 points, respectively. Broom had nine rebounds, Johnson had seven. Barksdale hit five 3s. The Golden Eagles went 3-1 in the tournament.
Broom made the Wade Lipscomb All-Tournament Team announced late Thursday evening.
WESTMINSTER 56, OXFORD 47: The Yellow Jackets closed out their annual trip to the Huntsville City Classic with an uneven performance. They started fast, opening a nine-point lead three minutes into the game, but a stretch of four straight turnovers in the second quarter led to eight straight Westminster points, a 21-4 quarter and a 13-point halftime deficit.
They climbed back into it in the third, but the Wildcats (13-3) pulled away in the fourth, holding them without a field goal in the final 3:55. Twice they cut the margin to two and called time to set up a play then turned it over due to poor execution.
“We didn’t play bad, we just had that segment (in the second quarter) where we turned it over and they had easy opportunities and it was hard to come back from that,” Oxford coach Joel VanMeter said. “That’s what separated the game.”
Westminster patiently worked the ball inside, shot 58 percent from the field for the game and scored 46 points in the paint. The Wildcats’ top three scorers – penetrating guard Eric Robinson (12), 6-6 Jackson Hammond (11) and Tyler Engle (10) – were a combined 13-of-16 from the floor. Jaylen Alexander and T.J. Allen led Oxford (6-10) with 14 points apiece.
Even though the Yellow Jackets lost, the game might have been a turning point for one of their young role players. Sophomore Dashaun Callaway might have scored only two points, but played maybe his best 20 minutes of the season.
“He’s a guy we’ve been trying to get where he can play,” VanMeter said. “He’s good with the ball, basically a good combo guard, but it’s taken him a lot longer (to emerge) than what he’s really had time for, but he’s continued to battle and work and buy into what we’re telling him even though he didn’t have a lot of success.
“He played 20 minutes today and played well. He played pretty well defensively, pretty well offensively trying to get what we wanted and give us another threat off the dribble. He had a couple nice drives. He held his own. When you’ve got guys who work and work and work and try to get there and they do, that’s a huge moment for him.”
Allen made the Wade Lipscomb All-Tournament Team announced late Thursday evening.
JACKSONVILLE 70, BUCKHORN 67
BUCKHORN – Jeremiah Wilson 9-21 3-3 27, Caleb Holt 8-19 6-9 24, Carter Malires 2-4 0-0 5, Austen Childress 1-4 2-2 4, Fred Derrick 1-4 0-0 2, Luke Hill 1-2 0-0 2, Terrence Robinson 1-1 0-0 2, Kyler Douglass 0-1 1-3 1, Joshua Barnes 0-4 0-0 0, Jackson Ramsey 0-2 0-0 0, Jordan Lindsey 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Rosenblum 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 12-17 67.
JACKSONVILLE – John Broom 6-11 7-8 22, Cam Johnson 7-10 3-4 19, Devin Barksdale 6-13 1-2 18, Ethan Duke 2-6 2-2 6, Caden Johnson 2-10 0-3 5, Jaquan Ervin 0-1 0-0 0, Jaleik Long 0-1 0-0 0, Kydric Fisher 0-1 0-0 0, Dee Prothro 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 13-19 70.
Buckhorn 9 22 16 20 – 67
Jacksonville 15 21 17 17 – 70
3-point goals: Buckhorn 9-19 (Wilson 6-9, Holt 2-4, Malires 1-2, Barnes 0-2, Ramsey 0-2); Jacksonville 11-21 (Broom 3-5, Cm. Johnson 2-3, Barksdale 5-9, Cd. Johnson 1-3, Long 0-1). Rebounds: Buckhorn 40 (Childress 11, Holt 9). Jacksonville 38 (Broom 9, Duke 8, Cm. Johnson 7). Fouled out: Holt, Robinson. Total fouls: Buckhorn 20, Jacksonville 13.
WESTMINSTER 56, OXFORD 47
WESTMINSTER (13-3) – Lawson Collier 3-6 0-0 6, Isaiah Cleaves 1-1 0-0 2, Grant Kaufmann 1-5 0-0 3, Jackson Hammond 4-4 3-6 11, Eric Robinson 5-7 1-2 12, Kaden Richard 3-7 1-3 8, T.J. Carter 0-0 1-2 1, Tyler Engle 4-5 2-2 10, Kyle Everleth 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 22-38 9-16 56.
OXFORD (6-10) – Jaylen Alexander 6-12 1-2 14, Caleb Sanders 1-3 0-0 3, T.J. Allen 4-8 3-3 14, Brock Reaves 3-5 0-0 8, Jayden Lewis 3-12 0-0 6, Dashaun Callaway 1-5 0-0 2, Jordan Kelley 0-0 0-0 0, Marcus Perry 0-0 0-0 0, Christian Gibson 0-0 0-0 0, Elijah Malone 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 4-5 47.
Westminster 13 21 8 14 – 56
Oxford 17 4 17 9 – 47
3-point goals: Westminster 3-9 (Collier 0-1, Kaufmann 1-3, Robinson 0-1, Richard 1-2, Everleth 1-2); Oxford 7-19 (Alexander 1-4, Sanders 1-2, Allen 3-5, Reaves 2-4, Lewis 0-2, Callaway 0-1, Malone 0-1). Rebounds: Westminster 25 (Hammond 5); Oxford 18 (Allen 6, Lewis 6). Total fouls: Westminster 9, Oxford 16.
Heflin Holiday Hoops Classic
FAITH CHRISTIAN 73, WEAVER 59: Thomas Curlee returned to the Lions’ lineup after missing the first two games of the tournament with illness and scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 25 minutes.
“He makes Ws much more comfy,” Faith coach Cory Hughes said.
The county’s leading scorer hit 10-of-24 shots from the floor, including three 3-pointers. Yoshua Arevalo (12), Tyler Bell (12) and Conner Richerzhagen (11) also scored in double figures for the Lions.
Weaver was led by Keshawn Allen’s 22 points. Tristan Brown inched closer to 1,000 career points with 19 against the Lions after scoring four in each of the first two games. He now stands at 953.
CLEBURNE COUNTY 58, OHATCHEE 40: Dawson Haynes hit four of his six 3-pointers in the first quarter and the Tigers hit 10 in the game to win the third-place game of their own tournament.
Haynes finished with 18 points and shared team scoring honors with Greyson Freeman. His four 3s in the first quarter helped stake the Tigers to a 22-12 lead.
CLAY CENTRAL 50, VINCENT 39: Troy Buchanan was named tournament MVP after leading Clay Central to the championship.
CLEBURNE COUNTY 58, OHATCHEE 40
OHATCHEE – Eli Teem 1 0-0 2, Jake Roberts 2 0-0 4, Jesse Baswell 2 1-2 7, Alston Carroll 0 2-3 2, Jake Roberson 5 0-3 10, Nate Dover 1 0-0 2, Kelbe Crook 4 5-7 13. Totals 15 8-15 40.
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Jacob Cavender 4 0-0 11, Dawson Haynes 6 0-0 18, Hunter Gore 0 0-0 0, Jackson Miller 1 1-2 4, Rico Huguley 0 0-3 0, James Cotton 1 0-0 2, Nathan Adams 1 1-2 3, Jake Littleton 0 2-4 2, Greyson Freeman 6 6-8 18. Totals 19 10-19 58.
Ohatchee 12 11 11 6 – 40
Cleburne County 22 13 10 13 – 58
3-point goals: Ohatchee 2 (Baswell 2); Cleburne County 10 (Cavender 3, Haynes 6, Miller). Total fouls: Ohatchee 13, Cleburne County 13. Officials: Mallicoat, Hanson, Wood.
FAITH CHRISTIAN 73, WEAVER 59
WEAVER – Tristan Brown 4 9-12 19, Jeffrey Miles 2 0-0 4, Keshawn Allen 7 8-14 22, Dawson Brooks 1 0-0 3, Jackson Williams 0 1-2 1, Zack Garner 3 4-5 10, Armane Burton 0 0-0 0. Totals 17-37 22-33 59.
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Thomas Curlee 10-24 1-1 24, Yoshua Arevalo 5-8 0-0 12, Tyler Bell 4-7 1-1 12, Conner Richerzhagen 4-8 1-2 11, Carson Harris 2-6 2-3 6, Eli Robinson 2-3 0-0 4, Will Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Toby Ricard 1-2 0-0 2, Parker Robertson 0-1 0-0 0, Carson Limbaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Kolton Eubanks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-61 5-7 73.
Weaver 18 10 17 14 – 59
Faith 23 14 20 16 – 73
3-point goals: Weaver 3-12 (Brown 2, Brooks); Faith 10-33 (Curlee 3-10, Arevalo 2-5, Bell 3-6, Richerzhagen 2-6, Harris 0-3, Smith 0-1, Ricard 0-1, Robertson 0-1). Rebounds: Weaver 24, Faith 27 (Curlee 9, Arevalo 6). Fouled out: Robertson. Total fouls: Weaver 10, Faith 22. Officials: Jarrett, Railey, Miller.
Supreme Courts
ALEXANDRIA 82, FALKVILLE 39: Antonio Ross had his best game since returning from the North-South All-Star Football Game earlier this month, going for 21 points to help the Valley Cubs snap a three-game losing streak.
“He just competes and plays hard and was probably tired of getting beat,” Valley Cubs coach Will Ginn said.
Ross hit hit his first four shots of the game and went 10-of-12 from the floor. He had another six in a row in the second half.
“I just knew we had to get something going,” the senior said. “(Ginn) told the team we need leadership and I knew from me missing some games it kind of affected us in some ways and I knew I had to make up for it.
“I missed the first day when they played Fyffe and we lost, but the next day we did not have any enthusiasm at all and no effort and we just needed someone to step up and I just did what I do best and that’s helping the team out with the best of my ability.”
Kory Cagal had 13 points for the Cubs and T.K. Downie had 12 on 6-of-8 shooting. The Cubs were 36-of-67 from the field in the game.
PIEDMONT 69, FYFFE 68: Chance Murphy hit the second of two free throws with three seconds left to send the Bulldogs (10-2) to their sixth straight victory. Murphy, a 62-percent free throw shooter entering the game, was 3-for-4 for the game for all his points. The Bulldogs were 11-of-13 as a team.
The game was tight throughout. After Murphy gave Piedmont the lead, the Bulldogs held their breath as Fyffe’s Eli Butts launched a shot at the buzzer that failed to fall.
“That was really big for Chance,” Piedmont coach JoJo Odam said. “He hit the hard one.
“It was a gritty win; three games in three days is tough. We’ve played 11 of our 12 games on the road so far.”
Alex Odam led the Bulldogs with 30 points. Rollie Pinto had 16 and Cole Wilson scored nine off three 3-pointers. Butts hit four 3-pointers in the game and led Fyffe with 20 points.
ALEXANDRIA 82, FALKVILLE 39
ALEXANDRIA – Drake Davis 3-8 0-0 6, Evan Snow 3-9 1-2 9, Antonio Ross 10-12 1-2 21, T.K. Downie 6-8 0-1 12, Jaylen Henderson 3-6 0-0 6, Matthew McElroy 0-2 0-0 0, Kory Cargal 5-10 3-6 13, Cleat Forrest 2-7 2-2 7, Caleb Folsom 4-5 0-0 8. Totals 36-67 7-13 82.
FALKVILLE – Cedric Beavers 1-1 0-0 2, Braylon Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Cayden Butler 5-12 0-0 14, Elijah Holbrooks 0-0 0-0 0, Carson McClellan 1-9 0-0 2, Dawson Fowler 4-9 3-4 11, Trey Fowler 1-4 0-0 3, Caden Burnett 1-2 0-0 2, Isaiah Warnick 2-8 0-0 5. Totals 15-45 3-4 39.
Alexandria 25 13 25 19 – 82
Falkville 11 6 7 15 – 39
3-point goals: Alexandria 3-16 (Davis 0-3, Snow 2-7, McElroy 0-2, Forrest 1-4); Falkville 6-21 (Butler 4-8, McClellan 0-2, D. Fowler 0-2, T. Fowler 1-4, Warnick 1-5). Total fouls: Alexandria 11, Falkville 15. Officials: Simpson, Groves, Higdon.
PIEDMONT 69, FYFFE 68
PIEDMONT (10-2) – Alex Odam 13 3-4 30, Rollie Pinto 7 1-1 16, Ish Bethel 2 2-2 6, Colten Proctor 1 0-0 3, Luke Rhinehart 0 0-0 0, Chance Murphy 0 3-4 3, Rhett Alford 0 2-2 2, Cole Wilson 3 0-0 9. Totals 26 11-13 69.
FYFFE – Eli Carter 3 2-9 8, Brodie Willoughby 4 1-3 11, Carter Wilborn 1 0-0 2, Zane Lee 0 0-0 0, Eli Butts 8 0-3 20, Cooper Cox 5 0-0 12, Braxton Dodd 0 0-0 0, Jesse Burt 1 0-0 3, Cole Thrash 0 0-0 0, Jesse Matthews 5 0-0 12. Totals 27 3-15 68.
Piedmont 19 17 19 14 – 69
Fyffe 11 19 23 15 – 68
3-point goals: Piedmont 6 (Odam, Pinto, Proctor, Wilson 3); Fyffe 11 (Willoughby 2, Butts 4, Cox 2, Burt, Matthews 2). Total fouls: Piedmont 15, Fyffe 13. Officials: Culver, Johnson, Ingram.
Comer Christmas Classic
B.B. COMER 69, GLENCOE 51: Chris Wilson scored 30 points, 20 in the second half, and led the Tigers to the championship in the revival of their holiday tournament. He had 15 in their opening-round win over Shelby County. Aiden Cornutt hit five 3-pointers and led Glencoe with 23 points.
“It’s always nice to win your own tournament,” Comer coach Marcus Herbert said.
B.B. COMER 69, GLENCOE 51
GLENCOE – Cooper Horton 0 0-0 0, Garrett Morgan 5 1-2 12, Aiden Cornutt 9 0-1 23, Wade Segrest 2 1-3 6, Nolan Fairley 1 0-0 3, Andrew Green 3 1-4 7, Colt Russell 0 0-2 0. Totals 20 3-12 51.
B.B. COMER – James Carmichael 2 0-0 4, Chris Garrett 2 2-2 7, Kamore Harris 4 5-11 13, Chris Wilson 14 2-11 30, Tae Swain 3 0-2 7, Raelon Sims 0 0-0 0, Devin Harvey 0 0-1 0, Jai Gaddis 1 0-0 2, Zack Carpenter 3 0-0 6. Totals 29 9-27 69.
Glencoe 6 14 11 20 – 51
B.B. Comer 8 23 14 24 – 69
3-point goals: Glencoe 8 (Morgan, Cornutt 5, Segrest, Farley); B.B. Comer 2 (Garrett, Swain). Total fouls: Glencoe 21, B.B. Comer 12. Officials: Hawkins, Gamble, Teel.
Gaylesville Christmas Tournament
DONOHO 72, GAYLESVILLE 42: Drew Williamson was back in the Falcons’ lineup after missing the Asbury game with the flu and gave them 31 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and six steals in just under 27 minutes of action. He was 12-of-18 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Isiah Smith scored eight points and Sam Johnson had eight points and 10 boards.
“I felt better today so very glad I could get back out there and do what I could to help,” Williamson said. “It’s the first time we had our full lineup in a long time and everyone played very well. I hate to miss any games so I’m very happy to be feeling good again and playing.”
Donoho 17 17 20 18 – 72
Gaylesville 8 14 16 4 – 42
JCA Holiday Classic
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN 78, GASTON 69: Ethan Fair scored 29 points and came within one assist of a double-double to lead the Thunder past Gaston and into the championship game of their own holiday tournament. Tyler Doggrell and Cam Moses scored 12 points apiece, Braxton Brown had nine and Noah Lee and Cooper Bates each had eight. Lee grabbed eight rebounds.
The Thunder (10-3) will play for the title against Cedar Bluff, a 73-51 winner over Wellborn.
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