By Al Muskewitz
Class 4A Area 9: Both Anniston teams win close games to reach tournament finals, both will play host Handley for titles
BOYS GAMES
Anniston 34, White Plains 29
Handley 62, Munford 46
GIRLS GAMES
Anniston 33, Cleburne County 28
Handley 52, White Plains 38
ROANOKE – It has reached that point in the basketball season when a team’s next loss is its last one. Apparently, Anniston’s Antonio Kite isn’t ready for it to be over yet.
Kite has been the Bulldogs’ top player all year, but he may have been at his best all season in the final six minutes Wednesday when he once again put them on his shoulders and led them to a 34-29 victory over White Plains in an intense Class 4A Area 9 tournament semifinal.
“It was ugly, but you know what, sometimes you play games like that and you just got to find a way to win,” Anniston coach Torry Brown said.
The Bulldogs will now play top-seeded host Handley Friday for the tournament title. Handley used a big second half to take out Munford in the other semifinal, 62-46.
Anniston is expected to have Mark Toyer back in the lineup Friday. The senior guard has been out since injuring his knee in the season-opener at Spain Park.
He’s expected to help the Bulldogs in a lot of areas, not the least of which is their outside shooting. The Bulldogs were 4-for-37 from outside the 3-point arc in their previous two games and hit only one against the Wildcats.
Wednesday’s game was a 2v3 matchup, the potentially most dramatic of area tournament draws, so one good team was not going to advance. Kite did everything in his power to make sure that wasn’t going to be the Bulldogs and, Brown said, “made enough plays down the stretch to pull it out for us. He kind of willed us to win.”
In the final six minutes the Alabama football signee brought the Bulldogs team back by scoring their last eight points, crashing the boards on numerous missed shots and basically making sure everything ran through him. He finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“Of course I want to play a little harder because I know it’s my last shot,” Kite said. “I don’t want me and my teammates to leave this thing with any regrets. At the end of the game it got a little tight. We weren’t able to get stops or make shots, so I decided to take it in my hands to get a couple plays.”
The game was every bit as tight as the score indicated. There were 13 lead changes and six ties, and neither team led by more than four until the final margin. That’s how close the Wildcats came to putting out the defending state champions. Instead, they’re the ones making off-season plans.
White Plains held its last lead at 27-26, but from that point everything that could go wrong for the Wildcats did. They shot 1-for-10 from the field, missed several shots from in close and even lost a chance to tie when Walker Osteen slipped on Kite’s foot as a pass sailed over his head out of bounds.
Kite converted that turnover into a driving layup that gave Anniston a 33-29 lead with 48.2 seconds to play.
“Both teams played great defense; anytime a team scored it felt like a touchdown, you need to just go to the huddle and kick off,” White Plains coach Chris Randall said. “You have to give their defense credit. They made us work for everything and we made them work for everything.
“The free throw line killed us. You can’t go 2-for-8. We had a couple turnovers where we tripped over our own feet. We had a layup that went through our hands out of bounds. You’ve got to make those plays (if) you get the chance and we didn’t.
“You have to give them the credit. They’re the defending state champs. You’ve got to knock the champs out. We had a chance and we didn’t do it. And it wasn’t for the lack of effort.”
Anniston 34, White Plains 29
WHITE PLAINS – Paul Laube 1 0-0 2, Dylan Barksdale 0 0-0 0, Cole Senciboy 1 0-0 3, Josh Wheeler 1 1-2 3, Daniel Williams 2 0-0 4, Walker Osteen 7 1-6 17, Luke Bussey 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 2-8 29.
ANNISTON – Antonio Kite 7 3-9 17, Tadyn Jones 1 0-1 3, Jamarius Billingsley 0 0-0 0, Jacques Thomas 0 0-0 0, Troy Hall 0 0-1 0, C.J. Munford 2 0-0 4, Malik Beisley 0 0-0 0, Kam Sandlin 2 1-2 5, Talib Christian 1 1-2 3, Jave Croft 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 5-15 34.
White Plains 10 7 8 4 – 29
Anniston 8 9 7 10 – 34
3-point goals: White Plains 3 (Osteen 2, Senciboy); Anniston 1 (Jones). Fouled out: Bussey. Total fouls: White Plains 13, Anniston 11. Officials: Gamble, Caldwell, Williams.
Handley 62, Munford 46
MUNFORD – Jaquan Anderson 7 0-4 16, Caderio Holland 0 1-2 1, Jacoby Young 0 0-2 0, Conner Morgan 8 6-15 27, Lathan Stephens 0 0-0 0, B.J. Anderson 1 0-2 2, Alex Petty 0 0-0 0, Jaiden Turner 0 0-0 0, Jayden Tucker 0 0-0 0, Kelby Tucker 0 0-0 0, Kyler Gibson 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-25 46.
HANDLEY – Maurice Cameron 0 1-2 1, Tamarious Treadwell 0 1-2 1, Cannon Kyles 4 0-0 8, Jamarius Haynes 3 3-8 10, Terrance Tucker 5 5-7 16, Devontae Higgins 3 1-2 9, Amajah Williams 0 6-9 6, Jordan West 0 0-3 0, Rondai Banks 4 3-8 11. Totals 19 20-41 62.
Munford 6 14 8 18 – 46
Handley 13 11 21 17 – 62
3-point goals: Munford 7 (Anderson 2, Morgan 5); Handley 4 (Haynes, Tucker, Higgins 2).Technical fouls: Anderson, Kyles, Banks. Fouled out: Anderson, Holland, Stephens. Total fouls: Munford 29, Handley 22.
Girls Games
ANNISTON 33, CLEBURNE COUNTY 28: The Lady Bulldogs were challenged at several points during the game, but they never gave up the lead and sank three front-ends at the free throw line in the final 40 seconds to hold off the Lady Tigers. Shiwanna Jackson led Anniston with 12 points.
Brooklyn McDaniel, appropriately enough, had another double-double in her final high school game (14 points, 14 rebounds). The Jacksonville State signee finished her high school career with 1,848 points and 1,562 rebounds. Her rebound total would be 15thon the AHSAA all-time list.
Anniston 33, Cleburne County 28
ANNISTON – Taysia West 3 0-1 6, Serena Hardy 2 3-6 7, Shiwanna Jackson 6 0-2 12, Jade Richardson 1 0-0 3, Tianna Thomas 1 0-0 2, Akayla Perry 0 1-1 1, Tykeria Smith 0 2-6 2, Totals 13 6-16 33.
CLEBURNE COUNTY – Brooklyn McDaniel 5-18 2-6 14, Faith Brown 6-18 2-6 14, Karley Boyd 0-1 0-0 0, Libby Altman 0-3 0-0 0, Jacy Littleton 0-1 0-0 0, Allyssa Hunt 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 11-41 4-13 28.
Anniston 13 5 8 7 – 33
Cleburne County 9 4 11 4 – 28
3-point goals: Anniston 1 (Richardson); Cleburne County 2-12 (McDaniel 2-5, Brown 0-3, Boyd 0-1, Altman 0-3). Rebounds: Cleburne County 17 (McDaniel 14). Technical fouls: West. Total fouls: Anniston 12, Cleburne County 16. Officials: Paige, Hardnett, Sandlin.
Handley 52, White Plains 38
WHITE PLAINS –Callyn Martin 1 0-2 3, Isabella Higgins 0 0-0 0, Cooper Martin 0 0-0 0, Hallie Williams 1 0-2 2, Camden Wilson 8 1-3 17, Arianna Sotelo 0 0-0 0, Adriana Sotelo 0 0-0 0, Angel Bozarth 5 6-8 16. Totals 15 7-15 38.
HANDLEY –Takeira Tucker 2 0-0 4, Takeriauna Mosley 3 2-4 7, Teanna Watts 5 9-17 20, Iyanna Norman 0 2-2 2, Emilia Askew 4 1-3 9, Jayla Trammell 3 2-4 8, Shaniah Allen 1 0-3 2. Totals 18 16-33 52.
White Plains 9 10 10 9 – 38
Handley 15 13 14 10 – 52
3-point goals: White Plains 1 (Ca. Martin); Handley 2 (Mosley, Watts). Total fouls: White Plains 23, Handley 16.
