Jacksonville, AL – After a cold first half, Can Johnson, Jacksonville find range in second half, get past Piedmont to reach boys county final
By Al Muskewitz
Tres Buzan had never seen the basket closed to 3-pointers the way it was for his Jacksonville basketball team in the first half Thursday night. He was confident it wouldn’t stay that way, but he knew something had to change. Cam Johnson knew it, too. All three shots he took in the first half were from 3-point range and all three missed the mark. He missed his fourth 3 at the start of third quarter. But when he finally hit one, it touched off the Golden Eagles’ version of “Showtime” and propelled them to an 81-59 victory over Piedmont.
The win sends Jacksonville to meet Oxford in a rematch of last year’s tournament finals for a title that eluded them a year ago. The Golden Eagles last won the county boys tournament in 1995. “When I missed like two shots I started to fall back and try to take it to the rim because it wasn’t falling,” he said. “In the second half I really hit it up.”
Piedmont gave the Golden Eagles all they could handle in the first half and with the Bulldogs hitting 3s left and right led by as many as seven before going into the break with a 34-32 lead. The Bulldogs hit four 3-pointers and a traditional three-point play and had only two turnovers. “I felt like we took a really good punch from them early,” Buzan said. “(Alex) Odam was hitting some tough shots and they were scoring and we found a way to only be down by two at halftime. In the second half those shots started falling and they made a difference. Once the iron got hot, we took off from there.”
Johnson needed something to change his luck and asked for a piece of gum, which team statistician Hilarie Howard promptly supplied. Johnson didn’t know what kind of gum it was, he just knew it worked. Loosening his jaw also loosened his shot. He missed his first shot in the second half — another 3 — but when he finally connected on one from the right corner with 4:10 left in the third quarter it gave the Golden Eagles a 46-43 lead and touched off a 24-5 run over the next seven minutes that gave them control of the game. [read more …]
