December 11, 2021
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Piedmont’s Odam puts team on his shoulders in final four minutes vs. PV; Tittle’s late 3 lifts Ohatchee, Handley beats Anniston in OT and more
FRIDAY’S BOYS SCORES
Fort Payne 67, Cherokee County 56
Geraldine 72, Hokes Bluff 59
Handley 63, Anniston 61 (OT)
Jacksonville 88, Ashville 24
Ohatchee 55, Munford 53
Piedmont 61, Pleasant Valley 47
Saks 58, Wellborn 25
JACKSONVILLE – There’s five minutes left in a close game Piedmont absolutely needs to win. Who you gonna call?
Of course, it’s Alex Odam.
The Bulldogs needed to make something happen if they were going to squeeze out another area victory Friday night and to no one’s surprise it was Odam who answered the call.
Over a stretch of about three minutes in the last four minutes of the game, the junior guard who hadn’t been particular sharp from the field found his zone. From the 4:04 mark to 59 seconds left, he picked up his defense with three consecutive steals, scored 10 points and assisted on another bucket as the Bulldogs put away a game Pleasant Valley team 61-47.
“I just hate losing,” Odam said. “We had to go. It was about that time to really go get it. I made some bone-headed moves, like turnovers and not rebounding and stuff, so I felt like I needed to take it in my hands a little bit.”
Odam finished with 26 points – 11 in the fourth quarter – four rebounds, four steals and three assists for the game, but it will be the flurry in the final four minutes that people will take away from this one.
“He just got mad and started playing,” Piedmont coach JoJo Odam said. “I don’t know what snapped in him, but he just got mad.
“We can’t wait until five minutes left in the game to win a game. We’ve got to play hard and we’ve got to do all that stuff early and stop waiting ‘til the end. We’ve got to play from tip to final horn instead of waiting until the last five minutes. I don’t know what caused him to do it, but I could see the look in his eye like he just flipped the switch.”
Odam the coach figured the play that triggered his son was the drive after the first of his three consecutive steals when he got tripped going to the basket and went sprawling across the floor.
PV coach Brad Hood said it came a few moments earlier when Odam passed the ball to Omarion Foster and then swung all the way under the zone to the left corner and buried a 3-pointer to put Piedmont ahead 46-41 with 4:04 to play.
“That was the dagger,” Hood said. “It’s like the air went out of it.”
Up until that point, PV was giving the Bulldogs all they could handle. The Raiders never led in the second half, but it was a two-point game at halftime, a three-point game with 90 seconds left in the third quarter and a three-point game right before Odam made his closing run.
“That’s been all year,” Hood said. “They play hard, they play together. There’s no one, it’s a unit. Every night, eight or nine guys are scoring, 10 have to wash their jerseys every night and it’s not out of sympathy.
“You remember, I coached girls and I’d play six all night and there would be two or three little girls sitting there who’d never see the floor. If I don’t feel sorry for a sweet little girl not ever getting her jersey wet, you think I’m gonna feel sorry for a guy? These guys playing have earned it. I have not been disappointed in that bunch yet.”
In keeping with that theme, the Raiders had eight players score, led by Zeke Johnson (15) and Garrett Cranmer (12). Johnson hit three 3-pointers and also had six rebounds and a steal. Cranmer had two rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot. Pelham Parris scored six points, but he had five rebounds and Kyle Smith had three points, but had four rebounds and two assists.
“They do the little things that we don’t do because we try to play pretty,” JoJo Odam said. “I think we realized that in the last four minutes and had to actually start playing.”
Not lost in the big game Odam had was another solid game from Foster. He scored 10 points, but had eight rebounds and four steals. He’ll be missed next week when he leaves to play in the North-South All-Star football game.
Piedmont 61, Pleasant Valley 47
PIEDMONT (2-0) –Alex Odam 11 2-3 26, Omarion Foster 5 0-1 10, Gavin Lawler 1 0-0 3, Cassius Fairs 1 1-2 3, Cole Wilson 4 0-1 9, Ridge Fagan 1 0-0 2, Ish Bethel 0 2-4 2, Jake Rhinehart 0 0-0 0, Chance Murthy 0 0-2 0, Coleman Reid 1 2-2 4, Rhett Alford 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 7-15 61.
PLEASANT VALLEY –Braydon Maye 0 0-0 0, Garrett Cranmer 4 2-2 12, Jacob Teal 1 0-0 2, Dalton Haynes 1 0-0 3, Brayden Robinson 1 0-0 3, Kolby Battles 1 1-2 3, Zeke Johnson 5 2-4 15, Sam Palmer 0 0-0 0, Pelham Parris 3 0-0 6, Kyle Smith 1 0-0 3. Totals 17 5-8 47.
Piedmont 22 6 13 20 – 61
Pleasant Valley 11 15 9 12 – 47
3-point goals: 4 (Odam 2, Lawler, Wilson); Pleasant Valley 8 (Cranmer 2, Haynes, Robinson, Johnson 3, Smith). Technical fouls: Reid. Fouled out: Johnson. Total fouls: Piedmont 10, Pleasant Valley 13. Officials: Batey, Batey, Railey.
HANDLEY 63, ANNISTON 61 (OT): Rondai Banks scored on the second of two put-backs with two seconds left in overtime to give the Tigers a huge area victory.
Banks, a 6-4 senior center, scored seven of his 15 points in overtime. The Tigers also got 16 points from Quadae Lewis and 10 from Tydrick Treadwell.
The Bulldogs played without all-state guard Antonio Kite, who was on a visit to Alabama in advance of his expected signing with the Tide Wednesday.
Jamarius Billingsley and Kam Sandlin picked up their offensive slack, scoring 16 points apiece. Billingsley had 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, going 9-for-10 from the free throw line.
Handley 63, Anniston 61 (OT)
HANDLEY – Maurice Cameron 0 1-2 1, Tamarius Treadwell 3 2-4 9, Tydrick Treadwell 3 4-4 10, Quadae Lewis 7 0-1 16, Ayden O’Neal 0 0-0 0, Jay Haynes 3 1-2 7, Jay Heath 0 0-0 0, Cannon Kyles 2 1-2 5, Rondai Banks 7 0-0 15. Totals 25 9-15 63.
ANNISTON – Jayden Lewis 0 0-1 0, Tadyn Jones 2 3-4 7, Jamarius Billingsley 3 9-10 16, Martez Reed 1 0-0 2, Troy Hall 4 2-7 11, C.J. Munford 2 1-3 5, Malik Bailey 1 0-0 2, Kam Sandlin 7 2-4 16, Talib Christian 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 17-29 61.
Handley 16 12 12 10 13 – 63
Anniston 11 17 9 13 11 – 61
3-point goals: Handley 4 (Treadwell, Lewis 2, Banks); Anniston 2 (Billingsley, Hall). Technical fouls: Lewis, Hall, Bailey. Total fouls: Handley 26, Anniston 17. Officials: Robinson, Chrocheck, Royston.
OHATCHEE 55, MUNFORD 53: The Indians needed a victory in a big way and Carson Tittle delivered a big shot.
Tittle, a freshman guard, nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner with 10 seconds left to give the Indians the lead and they held on for their first win of the season.
“That was pretty awesome,” Tittle said. “Coach (Bryant) Ginn drew up a pretty good play and we executed pretty good.”
The Indians (1-3) were down 53-52 and putting the ball in play from midcourt. Kelbe Crook got it in to Jake Roberson who got it to Jake Roberts at the top of the key. Roberts drove the lane then dished to Tittle in the left corner.
With Jaquan Anderson moving in to defend, Tittle launched a high arching shot that slipped through with hoop just as the clock passed 10 seconds.
“I just let it go,” Tittle said. “I knew it would go in as soon as it left my hand. I’ll remember everything for a long time.”
Tittle finished with five points, all in the fourth quarter. The Indians were led by Crook’s 22. Eli Teem had 11, all in the second half.
Anderson led Munford with 25. He scored 13 in the first quarter and 19 in the first half to help the Lions build a 10-point halftime lead.
“Big win for our guys,” Ohatchee coach Bryant Ginn said. “Us coaches have been telling them how close they were to putting it all together and being a good team. I think they saw that tonight.
“We’ve asked a lot of our younger guys and they have produced. They have pushed our older guys and earned playing time and they came up big tonight, including Carson with that game-winner.”
Ohatchee 55, Munford 53
MUNFORD – Jaquan Anderson 7 10-13 25, Caderio Holland 0 0-0 0, Connor Morgan 2 2-3 8, Lathan Stephens 4 2-5 13, BJ Anderson 0 0-0 0, Alex Petty 1 1-2 4, Kelby Tucker 1 1-2 3. Totals 15 16-25 53.
OHATCHEE (1-3) – Eli Teem 4 0-0 11, Jake Roberts 2 0-0 4, Jesse Baswell 3 0-0 6, Carson Tittle 2 0-0 5, Colby Hester 0 0-0 0, Jake Roberson 2 1-2 7, Brent Jennings 0 0-1 0, Kelbe Crook 10 2-5 22. Totals 23 3-8 55.
Munford 19 10 13 11 – 53
Ohatchee 6 13 16 20 – 55
3-point goals: Munford 7 (Anderson, Morgan 2, Stephens 3, Petty). Ohatchee 6 (Teem 3, Tittle, Roberson 2). Fouled out: Teem, Baswell. Total fouls: Munford 14, Ohatchee 19.
JACKSONVILLE 88, ASHVILLE 24 – John Broom led eight players in the scoring column with 20 points, the Golden Eagles shot 59 percent from the floor (10-of-25 on 3s) and erupted for 36 points in the third quarter to put the game farther out of reach. Devin Barksdale added 16 points and Caden Johnson had 15.
Jacksonville 88, Ashville 24
JACKSONVILLE –John Broom 9-12 0-0 20, Devin Barksdale 6-11 2-3 16, Caden Johnson 5-7 5-7 15, Julian Hill 3-7 0-0 9, Camren Johnson 4-8 0-0 0, Hayden Robinson 2-2 2-2 8, Ethan Duke 3-5 1-2 7, Jacoby Zackery 2-3 0-0 5, Cade Phillips 0-1 0-2 0, Kydric Fisher 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 34-58 10-16 88
ASHVILLE – Jacob Wilson 4-6 0-0 8, Ashton Vann 2-10 2-2 6, Elijah Turner 2-2 0-0 4, Jonah Carden 1-4 0-0 2, Braxton Nall 1-2 0-0 2, Justin Jones 1-2 0-0 2, Ashton Mostella 0-1 0-2 0, Chandler McGinnis 0-3 0-0 0, Tristan Dickinson 0-0 0-0 0, Walker Giffith 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 11-34 2-4 24.
Jacksonville 20 18 36 14 – 88
Ashville 6 8 6 4 – 24
3-point goals: Jacksonville 10-25 (Broom 2-5, Barksdale 2-5, Cd. Johnson 0-2, Hill 3-6, Cm. Johnson 0-1, Robinson 2-2, Zackery 1-2, Fisher 0-2); Ashville 0-11 (Vann 0-2, Carden 0-3, Nall 0-1, Jones 0-1, McGinnis 0-2, Giffith 0-2). Rebounds: Jacksonville 36 (Duke 6); Ashville 22 (Vann 5). Total fouls: Jacksonville 13, Ashville 16.
SAKS 58, WELLBORN 25: Shon Elston scored seven of his 11 points in a 19-1 third quarter to seal the Wildcats’ second win in as many days.
The Wildcats (2-0) are the last team from Calhoun County to open their basketball teams. They will play eight games before Christmas so they should get in basketbaall shape quickly.
Sean Parnell led Saks with 13 points. Ethan Tidwell led Wellborn with 13. [**read more]
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