January 19, 2022
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Top-seed Jacksonville a man down, but still swamps Faith; Oxford puts it together in first half to take out White Plains
CALHOUN COUNTY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
BOYS BRACKET
Tuesday’s Games
Jacksonville 98, Faith Christian 43
Oxford 56, White Plains 37
Wednesday, Jan. 19
Alexandria vs. Saks, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 20
Anniston vs. Oxford, 4:30 p.m.
Jacksonville vs. Alexandria-Saks winner, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 21
Championship game, 8 p.m.
JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville basketball team is so deep, take one piece away – no matter how big it is – and the Golden Eagles still have plenty of firepower to blow away an average opponent.
The Golden Eagles were missing the biggest piece of their puzzle – 6-9 Cade Phillips – but it didn’t hurt them much. Coach Shane Morrow still had more than enough to run over Faith Christian 98-43 Tuesday in the Calhoun County Basketball Tournament.
The Golden Eagles, seeded No. 1 in the tournament for the first time since 1995, will play the winner of Wednesday’s Alexandria-Saks game in Thursday night’s semifinal.
Phillips missed his first game with his new team with a foot injury. He sat on the Jacksonville bench in street clothes with a boot on his right foot and is expected to get the results of an earlier MRI Wednesday. Their hope is to have him by the end of the week.
The junior hurt the foot stepping on a foot in last Friday’s regular-season win over Anniston, a team the Golden Eagles could face again if both win Thursday night. Anniston plays Oxford in the other semifinal.
Morrow said the team didn’t play any differently without Phillips – for this game at least. That may change, he said, depending on whom they face Thursday night.
“We’re playing better, we’re playing well right now, but you’re not going to replace – not at a small school like us – you’re not going to replace Cade Phillips, you’re just not,” Morrow said. “Nobody’s got that kind of depth.
“But we played good. We wanted to show that we’re not just a one-man show. And I think we’ve showed that a lot this year.”
Caden Johnson got Jacksonville started early. He hit his first three shots, scored the Golden Eagles’ first eight points and 10 of their first 15. John Broom took care of the other five in the stretch and the Golden Eagles were off and running.
Johnson finished with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting and six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Broom had 16 points (not missing a shot from the field, 3 or line), six assists and two blocked shots. Camren Johnson had 14 points, six rebounds and two steals. All 11 Jacksonville players who got in the game scored and 10 grabbed at least one rebound.
“I feel like we played good,” Caden Johnson said. “We play as a team, play as hard as we could and still came out here 100 percent.”
Meanwhile, Ethan Duke grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, Devin Barksdale had five steals and three assists and Hayden Robinson blocked three shots.
“I think it speaks to the depth of our team,” Morrow said. “We’ve got guys who can go and if any two, three can get hot that makes any team tough but it makes us really tough. Again, it could be anybody on any given night and it has been throughout the year.”
Faith Christian was missing a big piece, too. Leading scorer Thomas Curlee was on the Lions’ bench in street clothes for the second game in a row with back problems. Unlike Jacksonville, the Lions didn’t have the depth to offset his absence.
Ethan Richerzhagen did all he could, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset the depth of the Golden Eagles. He had 37 points in the team’s tournament opener against Weaver and was out to do the same on this night.
He scored 14 points in the first quarter to keep the Lions close early and finished with 25. No one else in the lineup scored in double figures. Yoshua Arevalo, who had 26 against Weaver, was held to five Tuesday.
Jacksonville 98, Faith Christian 43
FAITH CHRISTIAN – Ethan Richerzhagen 8-23 8-9 25, Yoshua Arevalo 2-7 1-2 5, Jacques Prater 1-5 0-0 3, Colton Pahman 1-2 0-0 3, Brodie Dodson 1-4 0-0 3, Damian Arevalo 1-1 0-0 2, Will Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Demonde Bell 0-1 0-0 0, Eli Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Bell 0-0 0-0 0, Joseph Carroll 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Whitworth 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-46 9-11 43.
JACKSONVILLE – Caden Johnson 10-12 0-0 22, John Broom 6-6 2-2 16, Camren Johnson 4-8 4-6 15, Quin Long 4-7 0-0 8, JaLeik Long 3-9 0-0 7, Hayden Robinson 3-5 0-0 7, Julian Hill 3-3 0-0 7, Ethan Duke 2-4 1-2 5, Devin Barksdale 2-8 0-0 5, JaeTaj Morris 2-3 0-3 4, Jacoby Zackery 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 40-69 7-13 98.
Faith 17 10 10 6 – 43
Jacksonville 21 32 28 17 – 98
3-point goals: Faith 4-18 (Richerzhagen 1-7, Y. Arevalo 0-2, Prater 1-5, Pahman 1-1, Dodson 1-2, Whitworth 0-1); Jacksonville 11-24 (Cd. Johnson 2-3, Broom 2-2, Cm. Johnson 3-5, Q. Long 0-1, J. Long 1-4, Robinson 1-2, Hill 1-1, Barksdale 1-3, Zackery 0-2). Rebounds: Faith 19 (Y. Arevalo 6); Jacksonville 47 (Duke 7, Cd. Johnson 6, Cm. Johnson 6, J. Long 6). Technical fouls: Broom. Fouled out: Y. Arevalo. Total fouls: Faith 19, Jacksonville 13.
Jackets put it together in first half
The Oxford basketball team has been making a living this season off its defense and waiting at times for the offense to catch up. When they come together on the same night, Jackets coach Joel VanMeter says, “we can beat anybody.”
The second-seeded Yellow Jackets had them both going on in the first half Tuesday night. They had their second-most productive first half of the season and it was more than enough to offset an average second half in a 56-37 victory over White Plains in their 2022 Calhoun County Tournament debut.
They’ll play third-seeded Anniston in Thursday’s 4:30 p.m. semifinals.
The 39 points they scored in the first half against the Wildcats were second this season to only the 42 they scored in a 60-point game (win) over Southside and matched their four-quarter total in their last game against Springville. In fact, the output matched or bettered their total production in three games this year and was within three points of their total in four others.
“They were both there when we beat Plainview, they were both there when we beat Pinson Valley,” VanMeter said. “They were both there when we lose by five at Oak Mountain. So, you can beat anybody. It’s just getting them there at the same time and that’s been the challenge this year.”
The Jackets hit six of their seven 3-pointers in the game in the half with Jaylen Alexander, Rylan Houck and Kyler Wright each hitting two. Both of Alexander’s came in the first quarter as the Jackets jumped out to an 18-13 lead. Wright had three 3s in the game. There was one stretch where they hit six baskets and five of them were 3s.
Meanwhile, they held White Plains to 14 first-half points and outscored it 20-4 in the second quarter to take control of the game.
“The way that we play, we play such good team ball that once our offense starts flowing, we’re creating for each other so it feels so much better, which helps our defense,” Wright said. “It just starts flowing. It feels fun.”
The second half wasn’t as sharp, but knowing White Plains coach Chris Randall as he does, VanMeter expected the Wildcats wouldn’t stand for what happened in the first half. The Jackets scored just 17 points in the second half and fell short of 60 points for 16thtime in their last 17 games.
“My father-in-law (Larry Skinner) coached Chris (at Trinity); I’ve known Chris for a long time,” VanMeter said. “There’s a lot of pride. He’s not getting beat them like that the whole game.
“You’ve got to be appreciative of the fact you’re up like that at the half because the whole game’s not going to go that way. They’re going stand up, bow their chest up and say we’re not going to let this happen, so it didn’t surprise me.”
Houck led Oxford’s offense with 19 points. Wright finished with 15 and Alexander had 10. No one on White Plains scored in double figures.
Oxford 56, White Plains 37
WHITE PLAINS – Paul Laube 2 0-0 5, Cole Senciboy 1 0-0 3, Josh Wheeler 1 0-0 3, Z.J. Rosario 0 0-0 0, Braden Knight 1 0-1 2, Daniel Williams 2 3-4 7, Walker Osteen 3 0-0 8, Luke Bussey 2 0-0 6, Dylan Barksdale 1 1-2 3. Totals 13 4-7 37.
OXFORD – Jaylen Alexander 4 0-0 10, Zurrell Garrett 1 3-4 5, Rylan Houck 7 3-3 19, Kyler Wright 5 2-2 15, Aaron McFarland 0 0-0 0, J.D. Jones 1 0-0 2, Mike McGraw 2 1-2 5, Jayden Lewis 0 0-0 0, Ashton Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Cristian Gibson 0 0-0 0, Brock Reaves 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 9-11 56.
White Plains 10 4 12 11 – 37
Oxford 19 20 6 11 – 56
3-point goals: White Plains 7 (Laube, Senciboy, Wheeler, Osteen 2, Bussey 2); Oxford 7 (Alexander 2, Houck 2, Wright 3). Total fouls: White Plains 12, Oxford 14. Officials: Larkins, Williams, Sanford. [**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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