December 19, 2021
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Oxford’s VanMeter gives shot clock thumbs up after his team plays twice with it in Atlanta; Faith wins eighth straight, hits 10 wins
SATURDAY’S BOYS GAMES
Anniston 55, Talladega 43
War Eagle Classic
Woodward Academy, Atlanta
Chapel Hill 49, Oxford 47
Cherokee County Invitational
Faith Christian 64, Collinsville 61 (OT)
Haralson County (Ga.) 52, Gaylesville 40
Scottsboro 71, Cherokee County 56
Handley 72, Sand Rock 50
SATURDAY’S GIRLS GAMES
Anniston 48, Talladega 35
Cherokee County Invitational
Collinsville 45, Alexandria 34
Etowah 43, Gaylesville 21
Cherokee County 64, Haralson County (Ga.) 37
Sand Rock 58, Handley 45
ATLANTA – Joel VanMeter was a big fan of the shot clock in basketball long before he took the Oxford basketball team to the War Eagle Classic at Woodward Academy this weekend and he’s an even bigger one now that he’s gotten to experience it for the first time.
The Yellow Jackets wrapped up their two-game junket here Saturday with a 49-47 loss to Chapel Hill, and for the second time in two days they played with a 35-second shot clock that’s in its first official year of operation in Georgia.
Alabama is considering using a shot clock for basketball next year on an experimental basis, but only if it gets preliminary approval by the principals and then the AHSAA Central Board. Unlike football’s instant replay, if the shot clock is approved for use in Alabama, all teams would be required to have the system (at an estimated cost of $5,000).
VanMeter, who last played with a shot clock as a college assistant coach, doesn’t know why it wouldn’t be approved. It’s used on every advanced level of the game expect high school now and he’s confident it would be beneficial to the quality of the game.
“We got to play with a shot clock both games and I would pay money to have them,” VanMeter said. “Both games in the fourth quarter we’re down, but with the shot clock you still have to play the game and coach.
“You can’t sit on the ball, so you have to run some offense, get the ball where it’s supposed to go and get a clean shot. To me, it’s forcing you to coach more, so in both situations, both (opponents) were up, and I kept telling our guys there’s a shot clock now, they’ve got to take a shot. If we get two or three stops, we can get back in the game.”
And that’s exactly what happened Saturday. The Jackets were down 46-38, made three straight stops and Kyler Wright, showing signs of coming out of his shooting slump, capped each of them with a 3-pointer that gave the Jackets 47-46 lead.
In Friday night’s 60-49 loss to Drew Charter, his team’s first experience with a shot clock, VanMeter reported no issues related to the shot clock. Saturday night there were two; in one instance the officials forgot to reset with Chapel Hill having the ball and in the other they incorrectly reset on a ball out of bounds and corrected the error.
“This is the difference (in Georgia),” he said. “They have no one from the school keeping the shot clock; it’s an official. That would be a little bit of a challenge in Alabama. We’ve had some people come and keep the clock, but not a lot. I think there would be a lot of training have to go on. I love it, though. I think it’s better for the game, no question.”
In the two games, he said, there were probably five possession that were impacted by having a shot clock in the game.
“But what happens if it gets to the fourth quarter and you’re down 11, they have to play basketball,” VanMeter continued. “That’s why the colleges do it. (Legendary North Carolina coach) Dean Smith goes to the four corners, it’s not good for basketball.
“My argument has always been why do we have a play clock in (high school) football? We have a play clock because that’s what college does, that’s what the NFL does. It’s better for the game. That’s why we need aa shot clock. College does it, international does it, the NBA does it. We’re the only one who doesn’t. It doesn’t make sense.”
In the end Saturday night, the Yellow Jackets ran out of time. They had ball with 16 seconds left down two and had such good ball movement all five players on the floor touched the ball at least once in the final possession.
They set a flat ball screen for Rylan Houck, but he ran into a double team and the ball went to Wright, then Ashton Mitchell, back to Houck and over to Jaylen Alexander. The 6-foot eighth-grader drove it on one of the Panthers’ 6-7 posts, missed his shot, Mitchell tipped it back and it fell away as the buzzer sounded.
Houck led the Yellow Jackets with 23 points. Behind his three fourth-quarter 3s, Wright finished with 11. J.D. Jones also hit three 3s in the first half and had nine points. Houck and Jones both hit a pair of 3s in the first quarter as the Jackets raced out to a 15-5 lead.
“I thought we got a lot better today,” VanMeter said. “That’s why we come over here and play.”
FAITH CHRISTIAN 64, COLLINSVILLE 61 (OT): Colton Pahman hit a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to give the Lions the lead, then Jacques Prater and Ethan Richerzhagen hit free throws in the closing seconds to seal the Cherokee County Invitational victory. Collinsville had the last shot, but missed at the buzzer.
Thomas Curlee led the Lions with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Richerzhagen had 18 points and Prater hit four 4 3-pointers and finished with 15.
The victory was Faith’s eighth in a row and gave them 10 on the season. They are 10-4 after starting the season 0-3.
“I looked at our schedule today, what we have left, and 10 wins is probably halfway home to a good year,” Faith coach Cory Hughes said. “A 20-win season is doable for us. That’s our goal. If we win the games we’re supposed to win from here on out, we should have a 20-win season.
“It’s something new for the guys. I know it’s been a while since we won a good bit of games early in the season, but they’re excited. They have a lot of momentum. But now when we start back in area at the beginning of the year we kind of set ourselves up to be the target. That’s a different way to play.” [**read more]
**When you click read more you will be taken to the EA Sports Today website. Please make sure to come back to read more Calhoun County News.
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