STRONG DEFENSIVE EFFORT LIFTS SPARTANS TO REGIONAL FINAL

It seemed like just another day at the office for the Spartans. The Mountain Brook High School boys basketball team didn’t play its best game on the offensive end, but it was certainly good enough in a 62-40 win over James Clemens on Thursday morning in the Class 7A Northwest Regional semifinals. “Our guys were really good, they played like veterans,” said Mountain Brook head coach Bucky McMillan. “This isn’t their first rodeo.” Mountain Brook (28-3) is the two-time defending 7A state champion and began its playoff run at a third straight with the workmanlike victory. The Spartans outscored James Clemens by six in the first, six in the second and eight in the third to open up a 20-point lead entering the final quarter. “We’re real comfortable,” said senior forward Trendon Watford, who is making his fourth consecutive regional appearance at Mountain Brook. “A lot of guys on our team are veterans and we come out and treat every game the same.” The Spartans haven’t lost in six weeks and have only been defeated by a single in-state opponent all season, and they didn’t allow James Clemens to alter either of those numbers. James Clemens (18-12) was buoyed offensively in the first half by five 3-pointers, including a pair from Wilson Patterson. But the third quarter was a fruitless one from beyond the arc and Mountain Brook pulled away as Colby Jones took over. “After the first quarter, we did a good job defensively the last three quarters,” McMillan said. Jones, who transferred from Pinson Valley last summer, scored the first five points of the second half and continued to find the hoop throughout the final two periods. He finished the game with a team-high 18 points and pulled in nine rebounds. “I didn’t really feel like I needed to step up or anything,” he said. “It just came to me. Trendon takes a lot of pressure off me and my teammates set me up well.” It was a balanced scoring effort early from the Spartans, with no one eclipsing double digits in the first half. Lior Berman and Watford each finished with 13 points, with Watford hauling in 15 rebounds, blocking five shots and notching four steals. Senior Alex Washington, who took over primary point guard duties in late December after Paulie Stramaglia went down with a knee injury, scored five points to go along with four rebounds. "At first, it was rough," said Washington of adjusting to playing without Stramaglia. "But having those practices and games of experience, it's much better now." Watford had a couple highlight dunks, not an uncommon sight in a Mountain Brook game. But as important as buckets such as those are, McMillan pointed to his team’s rebounding effort on the offensive end as a key to the victory. “We didn’t shoot it extremely well, but we got (10) offensive rebounds,” he said. “Every time we missed a shot, a guy was flying in there tipping it out. That’s the type of stuff that wins games in the playoffs.” McMillan also gave plenty of credit to the Spartans’ bench, which logged quality minutes and wore down the Jets. “Our second-line guys won’t get enough credit, but they played really well,” McMillan said. “Some of these guys may not have had eight or 10 points, but they played really hard and leaned on the other team so our other guys came back in fresh. Their shooting percentage went down and I think fatigue was a factor.” Mountain Brook will return to Wallace State next Tuesday at 10:45 a.m., to play Vestavia Hills in the regional final.

STRONG DEFENSIVE EFFORT LIFTS SPARTANS TO REGIONAL FINAL

Photo Credit: Kamp Fender