SPARTANS HOLD OFF BUCS IN TOP 3 MATCHUP

It would be a local fan’s dream to see a matchup between Mountain Brook and Hoover again in early March. Both teams have a long way to go to get to that point, and several other teams — Huffman comes to mind — will have something to say about that, but they’re both good enough to get there. On Thursday night, the Mountain Brook High School basketball team pulled away from Hoover and held on in the final minute, starting the new calendar year with a 59-50 victory at Spartan Arena. Spartan Arena was packed to the gills, because as Mountain Brook head coach Bucky McMillan put it, high school basketball season unofficially starts in January in the state of Alabama, after the fever of football wears off. “It was really great,” Hoover head coach Charles Burkett said of the atmosphere. “That was what everybody wanted to see.” Class 7A No. 2 Hoover (15-4) was without center Trey Jemison, who has been sidelined briefly with a minor knee injury. Mountain Brook didn’t employ its normal full-court press defense, because the Bucs pose a unique challenge with their exemplary guard play. But both teams could be on a collision course for the 7A state final if they are both able to build to their obvious potential. No. 3 Mountain Brook’s (18-4) advantage was on the interior, where junior phenom Trendon Watford and Lior Berman went to work and secured rebound after rebound. Hoover held the clear edge on the perimeter, where Jamari Blackmon and Marion Humphrey made contested shot after contested shot. In the end, the interior play of Mountain Brook outweighed the Bucs’ outside game. “We use this as a gauge to see where we are and some of the things we did well and didn’t do well,” Burkett said. “I thought we did a lot of things excellent. I thought we defended really well, but we didn’t control our boards, and that’s how we lost the game.” On the scoreboard, the combos were fairly equal. Watford poured in a game-high 22 points and Berman added 19, while the duo combined for 17 boards. Humphrey led the Bucs with 19 points and Blackmon followed closely with 17 of his own. Hoover held a 15-12 edge after a quarter of play. The Bucs scored the first five points of the contest but Mountain Brook scored the next eight. Blackmon hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Hoover a one-point edge, and Wayne Williams’ bucket at the horn made Hoover’s lead three. Mountain Brook made a big push in the closing minutes of the second quarter. Britton Johnson’s 3-pointer gave the Spartans a 21-20 lead, and they would never trail again and took a 27-22 edge into the halftime break. Blackmon made an impact in the third quarter, opening the second-half scoring with a step-back jumper and a 3-pointer from the corner while being fouled. The Bucs tied the game at 31-31, but Watford drained a 3 at the horn to lengthen the Spartans cushion back to five. Mountain Brook held the edge in the fourth quarter, expanding its lead to double digits multiple times. But Hoover rallied in the final minute and cut the gap to 53-50 with 34 seconds to play after CJ Melton’s 3-pointer. But Watford’s free throws and an ensuing Hoover turnover iced the game. The two teams met in the 2015 7A state final, with Hoover claiming the title. This year’s Bucs squad is certainly good enough to make another run, with the stellar guard play and outside shooting, combined with the presence of Jemison. “You can see why a lot of people, before the year started, picked them to make a run,” McMillan said. The Spartans are plenty good, too. “As a team, we’re just progressing everyday,” Watford said. Mountain Brook hosts Vestavia Hills on Friday night before opening area play next Tuesday against Huffman. Hoover begins area play the same night, as the Bucs travel to Thompson.

SPARTANS HOLD OFF BUCS IN TOP 3 MATCHUP

Photo Credit: Jimmy Mitchell