Saks comes back
- Updated: February 7, 2023
WIldcats rally after ‘timid’ first half, eliminate Weaver in area tourney game marked by Bothwell’s big second half, controversial ending
CLASS 3A AREA 11 TOURNAMENT
At Piedmont
Boys Games
Saks 52, Weaver 48
Piedmont 80, Wellborn 44
Thursday’s Game
Championship, Saks vs. Piedmont, 7 p.m.
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
PIEDMONT — Saks comeback victory and elimination of Weaver in the boys’ Class 3A, Area 11 tournament was a story of the Wildcats scoring as many points in the third quarter as they did the entire first half.
It was about Saks hitting 10 of 11 free throws, with Anthony Bothwell hitting all four of his in the fourth quarter, and Weaver missing nine of 14.
The fact that Weaver’s best player, senior and All-Calhoun County guard Tristan Brown, spent the last 51.1 seconds on the bench after a double-whammy illegal-screen foul and technical foul, added a controversial element to Saks’ 52-48 victory.
In the end, Saks, the No. 2 area seed, walks away with a shot at Piedmont in Thursday’s 7 p.m. area final at Piedmont. The Wildcats also clinched a sub-regional berth and the chance to make the Northeast Regional.
“It’s big for our team,” Saks coach Jonathan Miller said. “It gives ourselves a chance to get to JSU, and that’s all you can ask for this time of year.
“You just want a chance.”
That chance slipped through No. 3 seed Weaver’s hands.
The Bearcats led 24-13 at halftime, only to see Saks rally for a 39-37 lead to end the third and set the stage for a dramatic fourth quarter that featured six lead changes.
By far the most controversial lead change was the last. Brown, who scored 17 points and had just give the Bearcats a 48-46 lead on a drive plus and-one, was called for an illegal screen near midcourt with 51.1 seconds left.
A technical foul immediately followed.
The sequence gave Brown his fourth and fifth fouls, taking him out of the game. This for a Weaver team that dismissed two of its best players, Armane Burton and Jeffrey Miles, ahead of the Calhoun County tournament.
“I didn’t even know there was a screen call,” Weaver coach Beau Winn said. “I thought we stepped on the halfcourt line. He pointed at the halfcourt line.
“Then when he said ‘five’ (fouls), I thought, ‘Where did he get the fourth?’ He said, ‘I called a moving screen.’”
Winn said Brown doesn’t normally draw technical fouls and that Brown got the additional call that accounted for his fifth personal foul “for no reason, no language, no shoving.”
“He just gave him a tech,” Winn said. “I don’t normally say anything about that, but that dictated the end of the game.
“I’m not taking anything from Saks.”
Miller agreed with the initial foul call.
“I thought it was a foul,” he said. “I can’t really say what I want to say, but there were plenty of calls that could’ve gone either way in the game. We got some, and we didn’t.”
Bothwell hit both resulting free throws to tie the game, 48-48. He hit two more at 39.2 seconds to make it 50-48 and finished with a game-high 21 points.
He scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half, helping Saks gain footing in the game.
“We came out after halftime with better intensity and played better defense, and the shots started falling,” Bothwell said. “They weren’t falling in the first half, but we kept it together.”
Miller attributed Saks’ first-half struggles to tightness from playing in a win-or-go-home game.
“We came out, especially the first half, and we just played like the moment was too big for us,” he said. “When you’ve got seniors, and they step out on the court and realize if we lose, that’s it, sometimes that happens.
“We were real tight, timid, not aggressive. To their credit, we turned it around in the third quarter, and Anthony gave us a big lift.”
Saks also got 13 points from Christian Smith and overcame a 19-point performance from Weaver’s Keshawn Allen.
As for the way Brown’s high school career ended?
“That’s what hurts the most,” Winn said. “He don’t deserve to go out like that. Nobody really does, especially at the end, to be sitting over there watching something that they’ve worked so hard for.”
WEAVER – Tristan Brown 7 1-5 17, Harper Williams 2 0-2 4, Keshawn Allen 8 2-2 19, Dawson Brooks 3 2-5 8. Totals 20 5-14 48.
SAKS – Jakari Streeter 3 2-2 9, Christian Smith 5 2-2 13, Anthony Bothwell 6 6-7 21, Dee Elston 3 0-0 7, Keondre Johnson 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 10-11 52.
| Weaver | 12 | 12 | 13 | 11 – | 48 |
| Saks | 5 | 8 | 26 | 13 – | 52 |
3-point goals: Weaver 3 (Brown 2, Allen), Saks 6 (Bothwell 3, Streeter, Smith, Elston). Total fouls: Weaver 14, Saks 14. Fouled out: Brown. Technical foul: Brown.
Piedmont rolls on
PIEDMONT 80, WEAVER 44: Ishmael Bethel scored 24 points, and Piedmont broke away from feisty Wellborn in the second quarter.
“We got off to a bad start,” Piedmont coach Jonathan Odam said. “Playing early might’ve hurt us a little bit.
“Once we got going, we picked it up.”
Bethel’s performance included two 3-pointers and two dunks.
“He got us going,” Odam said. “He had the dunk to start us off. I thought it might get us going, but it didn’t. The second dunk was the one that actually got us going.”
Piedmont also got 18 points from Alex Odam and 17 from Rollie Pinto. The Bulldogs clinched a sub-regional berth and will play in Thursday’s 7 p.m. area championship game for the right to host a sub-regional game.
WELLBORN – Avery Odom 1 2-2 5, C.J. Hubbard 3 0-1 6, Ollie Boot 2 3-4 8, Immanuel Singleton 0 1-2 1, Raymond Williams 3 0-0 6, Ethan Tidwell 4 0-0 11, Jackson Long 3 0-0 7. Totals 16 4-9 44.
PIEDMONT – Alex Odam 9 0-2 18, Rollie Pinto 5 5-5 17, Ishmael Bethel 11 0-0 24, Luke Rhinehart 0 3-4 3, Trevor Pike 1 0-0 2, Chance Murphy 1 0-0 2, Rhett Alford 1 1-1 3, Cole Wilson 2 0-0 6, Taylon Swain 1 0-0 2, Dylan Oliver 1 0-0 3. Totals 32 9-12 50.
| Wellborn | 10 | 14 | 15 | 5 – | 44 |
| Piedmont | 20 | 23 | 29 | 8 – | 80 |
3-point goals: Wellborn 6 (Tidwell 3, Odom, Boot, Long); Piedmont 7 (Pinto 2, Bethel 2, Wilson 2, Oliver). Total fouls: Wellborn 8, Piedmont 7. Officials: Williams, Sparks, Engle.
Cover photo: Saks’ Anthony Bothwell shoots during the Wildcats’ victory over Weaver in Tuesday’s Class 3A, Area 11 tournament action at Piedmont.
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