E.A. Sports Today

Downey delivers

Monday roundup: Freshman promoted from JV and answers the call, scores 15 to lead Donoho over ASD in area game, Weaver falls to Westbrook, Cleburne County plays in-school game

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Korielle Beavers was only a little concerned when he took his Donoho basketball team into an area game they couldn’t afford to lose without two of his best players.

Isaiah Smith pulls up at the 3-point line in the face of the defense of ASD’s Taylor Dubose. Smith drew a start and scored eight points. On the cover, Donoho freshman Bruce Downey (21) drives to the basket against Joshua Kelley. (Photos by B.J. Franklin)

He was confident in the abilities of those who remained and knew someone would step up to fill the void. He just didn’t know who it would be.

Enter Bruce Downey. The freshman was brought up from the junior varsity and had the game of his life, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, to lead the Falcons over Alabama School for the Deaf 74-45.

“I always knew he had it, especially recently,” Beavers said. “He’s been asking  a lot of questions about what he can do to get better, learning offense, learning defense.

“He’s just got a will, man. He’s just got a passion for it and a drive. That’s what we need on the team. Now, he gives me a whole lot to think about.”

Beavers was looking for a few good men because leading scorer Drew Williamson and Richard Goad both were out with illness. He isn’t certain when either will return. Jack Wallace and Isaiah Smith started in their place. Wallace had 14 points and five assists, Smith had eight points.

Downey had been called up to the varsity a few times this season, but he got his most extensive action against the Silent Warriors. He was 7-of-13 from the field and also had seven steals in his 18 and a half minutes of fame.

“I’ve bene called up before, so I was used to it, but that’s the first time I really played a lot on varsity; I think I did pretty good,” he said. “I wasn’t really nervous coming to this game. I just came in ready to play. I was ready to play.

“We’re all good players, we all have our good days and bad days. I just came in playing good. I started scoring, passing the ball, taking it up the court. That’s what I did for JV, so I just transferred it over to varsity.”

ASD – Stacey Phillips 8-1-17, Joshua Kelley 1-2-4, Taylor Dubose 0-0-0, Lakendrick Agee 6-0-12, Trillien Washington 3-0-6, P.J. Brownlee 2-0-4, Kris Williams 1-0-2. Totals 21-3-45.
DONOHO – Jordan Cameron 3-3-9, Jack Wallace 6-0-14, Isiah Smith 2-4-8, Cash Worley 1-0-2, Sam Johnson 4-4-12, Hayes Farrell 4-0-8, Bruce Downey 7-0-15, Sean Keel 3-0-6. Totals 30-11-74.
ASD                12        8          15        9 –       45
Donoho         18        14        20        12 –     74
3-point goals: Donoho 3 (Wallace 2, Downey). Total fouls: ASD 9, Donoho 13. Officials: Doss, Fletcher, Caldwell.

CLAY CENTRAL 49, CLEBURNE COUNTY 35: Josh Giddens is really starting to like in-school games. His Volunteers are now 3-0 in matinees this season after pulling away from a tight game late in the second quarter.

The Vols jumped out to a 9-2 lead, but the Tigers rallied to go ahead 10-9. The Vols pulled away again for a 13-10 lead and the Tigers rallied again, tying the game on Dawson Haynes’ 3-pointer coming out of a timeout. This time, the Vols went on a 9-0 tear to halftime as part of a larger 16-3 to take control of the game.

Troy Buchanan hit two 3-pointers in the second-quarter part of the run and Luke Shaddix hit one at the end of it. Buchanan led the Vols with 16 points.

Jacob Cavender hit back-to-back 3s in the final minute of the third quarter, including one that beat the buzzer, to get the Tigers within 32-24, then the Vols opened the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run to put it out of reach.

“In-school games are really fun,” Giddens said. “No. 1, I get to be with the kids that I love, and it’s really good for these kids (students) who may not get the opportunity to come to a game. This might be the only game they get to see all season.

“We’ve played well during school. Playing during school, sometimes distractions come with it, and I think we did a good job of handling those distraction and playing well, especially defensively. What we’ve hung our hat on this year is playing really, really good defense, pressuring the ball and creating turnovers, and we did that today.”

CLAY CENTRAL – Keisen Lindsey 2 1-2 5, Terry Heflin 2 0-0 4, Damion Boyd 1 0-0 3, Luke Shaddix 3 0-0 7, J.T. Wilkerson 0 0-0 0, Troy Buchanan 6 2-2 16, J.J. Cosby 1 0-0 2, Deshaun Gibbons 0 0-0 0, Kevin Cherry 2 0-1 4, Denzel McNeil 3 0-1 8. Totals 20 3-6 49.
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Jacob Cavender 3 2-2 11, Dawson Haynes 2 0-0 6, Hunter Gore 0 2-2 2, Jackson Miller 1 1-1 3, Rico Huguley 0 2-2 2, James Cotton 0 0-0 0, Nate Adams 0 1-2 1, Jake Littleton 1 0-0 2, Grey Freeman 3 2-4 8. Totals 10 10-13 35.
Clay Central              9          13        10        17 –     49
Cleburne County      5          8          11        11 –     35
3-point goals: Clay Central 6 (Boyd, Shaddix, Buchanan 2, McNeil 2); Cleburne County 5 (Cavender 3, Haynes 2). Total fouls: Clay Central 10, Cleburne County 13. Officials: Miller, Burroughs, Howell.

WESTBROOK 51, WEAVER 34: Eli Edge scored 12 of his 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, in the third quarter as the Warriors pulled away from the shorthanded Bearcats. Dawson Brooks scored 11 of his 13 in the second quarter to keep Weaver within 21-18 at halftime. Brooks also had 12 rebounds.

WESTBROOK CHRISTIAN – Cameron White 2 0-0 5, Steven Barnes 1 1-2 3, John Gilchrist 2 3-4 7, Keaton Bean 0 0-0 0, Eli Edge 5 2-2 14, Joshua Terrell 4 0-0 9, Brady Carden 2 2-4 6, Cameron Carden 3 0-1 7, Isaac Armstrong 0 0-0 0, Cole Potter 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 8-13 51.
WEAVER – Tristan Brown 6 1-2 13, Elijah Smith 1 0-0 2, Dawson Brooks 6 0-4 13, Jackson Williams 0 0-3 0, Zach Garner 3 0-0 6, Austin Snider 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 1-9 34.
Westbrook     8          13        15        15 –     51
Weaver           5          13        8          8 –       34
3-point goals: Westbrook 5 (White, Edge 2, Terrell, C. Carden); Weaver 1 (Brooks). Total fouls: Westbrook 10, Weaver 13. Officials: Jarrett, Kelley, Hollingsworth.

Girls

CLAY CENTRAL 50, CLEBURNE COUNTY 31: The Lady Vols came out of halftime ready to go in the third quarter and outscored their hosts 17-7 to pull away from a close game.

The Lady Tigers rallied from an early 8-2 deficit to take its first lead since 2-0 on Makinzie Frames’ 3-pointer with 1:55 left in the half. Mariah Lindsey scored five points in the last 35 seconds of the half to send the Lady Vols into the locker room with a 17-14 lead.

The Lady Vols got scoring from six players in the third quarter as they quickly pulled away.

“Too many turnovers and the effort wasn’t there,” Cleburne County coach Todd Gable said. “We had opportunities in the second quarter, but just had too turnovers and the focus wasn’t there. I don’t know if it’s the in-school game, playing early, I’m not real sure.”

Clay Central coach Tyrell Bishop would have liked it to be he said something at halftime to get his players going in the second half, but it was just a natural occurrence.

“I don’t think we did anything different,“ he said. “I feel like there was a little bit more energy. We were getting some steals. We were having trouble scoring once we’d get steals and we actually started making them. Sometimes we’re better (in the second half), but they got on a little run.”

Clay Central placed three scorers in double figures, with Mia and Maleah Lindsey both scoring 12. Faith Brown led Cleburne County with 16 points. It was her first game back since being in a car accident last Wednesday. She had five rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots in the first half.

CLAY CENTRAL – India Glenn 1 1-2 3, Mia Lindsey 5 2-6 12, Maleah Lindsey 4 3-4 12, Nygeria Carr 1 0-0 3, Ashanti Smith 2 0-1 4, Dymond Heflin 1 0-0 2, Ramyah Billingsley 0 0-0 0, Nariah Brock 4 2-6 10, Zykeria Heflin 2 0-3 4. Totals 20 8-22 50.
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Faith Brown 7 2-5 16, Makinzie Frames 2 0-0 6, Hannah Turley 1 0-0 2, Cori Austin 0 0-0 0, Alivia Boyd 0 1-2 1, Kadence Brown 1 0-0 2, Macey East 2 0-0 4, Kiera Henderson 0 0-0 0, Lilian Whatley 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 3-7 31.
Clay Central              10         7         17         16 –     50
Cleburne County      4          10        7          10 –     31
3-point goals: Clay Central 2 (Ma. Lindsey, Carr); Cleburne County 2 (Frames 2). Fouled out: Frames. Total fouls: Clay Central 9, Cleburne County 14. Officials: Burroughs, Howell, Wood.

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