Jacksonville quickly recovers from a slow start, beats St. James to reach Class 4A title game vs. Escambia County Friday
By Al Muskewitz
BIRMINGHAM — Jacksonville just needed to get used to the place.
It took the Golden Eagles all of about three minutes to get comfortable in the Class 4A Final Four at the BJCC Legacy Arena Tuesday.
They fell behind 7-0 under the bright lights of their biggest game of the year, then turned into the team everyone in the arena expected to see.
They went on a 17-0 run over the next four and a half minutes to take control of the game and rode it to a 51-37 victory over Final Four first-timer St. James.
“I thought we came out a little slow; I don’t know if it was the big stage, I don’t really know why we came out slow, but we did,” Jacksonville coach Shane Morrow said. “But then we got going at our pace there for a little while and that turned it around.
“We’ve grinded it out before, so we feel a little more comfortable doing that now, but I’d rather be out running.”
The Golden Eagles (27-5) will play Escambia County (27-4) for their first boys state basketball title in school history Friday at 5:45 p.m., the final step to fulfilling a destiny that was written for them this summer.
“It’s a huge honor,” 6-9 junior post Cade Phillips said. “As a kid you talk with your best friends growing up like, hey, I can see us here in the future, watching these games and seeing the guys we looked up to as kids playing in this game.
“At the beginning of the year that’s something you dream about and to turn it into what we’ve turned it into, it’s an honor.”
St. James was playing in the Final Four for the first time in its school history and you might expect it to be a little awed by the situation, but it was the Golden Eagles who actually got off to a slow start.
They missed their first four shots and fell behind 7-0 against the Trojans’ expected slower pace, but instead of calling a time out for his players to collect themselves Morrow let them work their way out of it. They turned up the defense and went on that 17-0 run to take control of the game.
At one point in the run they turned the Trojans over five straight times and turned four of them into buckets to take the lead for good. They led 28-16 at halftime with 17 of their points coming off St. James turnovers.
Morrow credited Devin Barksdale’s energy for speeding up the game and sparking the run. The freshman scored all seven of his points and had both of his steals in the half.
He entered the game with the Golden Eagles trailing 7-0 and made an immediate impact. His steal and layup made it a 7-6 game. He later had a steal and an assist and then capped off the run with a 3-pointer and a layup off Quin Long’s steal.
“We weren’t really playing our game,” guard John Broom said. “Then we got a trap and once we got a trap we got momentum and once we get that momentum we just keep going and going and going and we just won’t stop.”
“We talked about that earlier in the year because they were games where we would jump out to 20-point leads and I wouldn’t purposely call a time out because it was like, guys there are going to be times where you’ve just got to go play,” Morrow said. “I realize I’m sitting on three or four time outs, but you want to see their resolve early in the year. Are they going to fight through it, are they going to play through it, and I think some of that we did earlier in the year is paying off.”
Johnson led Jacksonville with 13 points. Broom had 12 and Phillips had 10 points and five blocked shots. The Golden Eagles won despite shooting 2-for-16 from 3-point range.
“Usually we come out hot,” Phillips said. “You can blame (tonight’s shooting) on whatever you want to blame it on, but we played our game. (Down) 7-0, that’s nothing to us. We feel seven points can be back that quickly.
“We turned that first quarter into them calling a time out to slow the game down. We knew if we just play us, those little miscues will slowly go away when we play our game. We weren’t worried about it.”
The Trojans (17-8) did get as close as six with 1:28 left in the third quarter, but just like every time they were threatened, the Golden Eagles quickly pulled back out to a 10-point lead. They then held St. James without a field goal in the fourth quarter to win going away.
“I think we did Westminster the same way in the second quarter (in the regional final), held them to zero points,” Morrow said. “I know it sounds cliched, but I’ve told them since Day One we’ve got to do what we do and it starts with our defense. Nothing was said, there was no rah-rah speeches, it was just we’ve got to go be us.”
ESCAMBIA COUNTY 70, HALEYVILLE 60: The Blue Devils (27-4) overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half with a tenacious assault on the boards and strong defense to win the other Class 4A semifinal.
They trailed 43-36 at the half and 54-49 heading into the final quarter, but closed out the win by outscoring the Lions 26-12 in the final six minutes of the game.
“I told them at halftime y’all owe me a half,” Blue Devils coach Layton Knight said. “They stepped up big and they did what they had to do to bring it home.”
The berth in the state finals will be their first in school history.
“This is a dream come true,” junior guard Hakeem Johnson said. “It’s what we’ve always wanted. We’ve been working all season for it. The time is here.”
Sheldon Williams, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, dominated the inside with 23 points and 15 rebounds. He also was 3-for-3 from the 3-point arc, had four assists, three steals and two blocked shots. Most important, however, was his seven offensive rebounds – many coming in the final quarter as the Blue Devils took control.
“I knew we had a job to fulfill,” Williams said. “We knew it was win or go home.”
Williams’ younger brother Stephen Williams, a 6-7 sophomore, finished with 12 points, five boards and two blocked shots, and Johnson also had 12 points.
“We are hard to guard because we’re big and we’re long,” Knight said. “You’ve got the Williams twin towers.”
CLASS 4A BOYS FINAL FOUR
Jacksonville 51, St. James 37
ST. JAMES (17-8) – Matt Middleton 3-8 2-4 9, K.J. Jackson 3-6 1-2 7, Ethan Beard 2-3 0-1 5, Jake Yohn 1-5 0-0 3, Bradley Thomas 4-13 3-6 11, Clinton Houser 0-2 0-0 0, Barr Armistead 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 14-38 6-13 37.
JACKSONVILLE (27-5) – John Broom 6-13 0-0 12, Cade Phillips 2-6 6-7 10, Cam Johnson 0-4 1-2 1, Caden Johnson 6-9 0-0 13, Julian Hill 0-4 0-0 0, Devin Barksdale 3-6 0-0 7, Quin Long 1-3 2-2 4, Jaliek Long 1-3 2-2 4, Ethan Duke 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 11-13 51.
St. James 9 7 17 4 – 37
Jacksonville 17 11 12 11 – 51
3-point goals: St. James 3-8 (Middleton 1-1, Beard 1-1, Yohn 1-5, Thomas 0-1); Jacksonville 2-16 (Broom 0-3, Cm. Johnson 0-2, Cd. Johnson 1-3, Hill 0-2, Barksdale 1-4, J. Long 0-2). Rebounds: St. James 27 (Jackson 14, Middleton 5); Jacksonville 32 (Phillips 6, Cd. Johnson 6). Total fouls: St. James 12, Jacksonville 16.
Escambia County 70, Haleyville 60
HALEYVILLE (24-8) – Drake James 8-18 2-2 18, Mac Wilcoxson 1-7 0-0 3, Joe Aldridge 8-17 5-5 25, Rome Yarbrough 1-4 0-0 2, Bryant James 5-14 0-0 12, Robert Mobley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-60 7-7 60.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (27-4) – Hakeem Johnson 4-11 2-4 12, Stephen Williams 6-11 0-0 12, Sheldon Williams 9-12 2-2 23, Connor McPherson 4-7 0-1 8, Jacob Dirden 5-10 2-3 13, McCants 0-0 0-0 0, McNeil 0-0 0-0 0, Arnold 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 28-51 8-12 70.
Haleyville 22 21 11 6 – 60
Escambia County 21 15 13 21 – 70
3-point goals: Haleyville 7-29 (D. James 0-2, Wilcoxson 1-5, Aldridge 4-9, Yarbrough 0-3, B. James 2-10); Escambia County 6-14 (Johnson 2-4, Sh. Williams 3-3, McPherson 0-2, Dirden 1-5). Rebounds: Haleyville 24 (Yarbrough 6); Escambia County 39 (Sh. Williams 15, Johnson 6). Total fouls: Haleyville 13, Escambia County 6. [*** read more]
