How Sweep It Is

December 30, 2021
East Alabama Sports Today

Cleburne County boys, girls sweep Holiday Hoops Classic crowns for first time; Brown, McDaniel named MVPs

CLEBURNE COUNTY HOLIDAY HOOPS CLASSIC
Boys Games
Pleasant Valley 82, Ranburne 62
Vincent 56, Ohatchee 26
Winterboro 56, Munford 43
Cleburne County 65, Clay Central 61 (OT)
Girls Games
Jacksonville 49, Glencoe 35
Ohatchee 55, Ranburne 38
Cleburne County 69, Alexandria 36

HEFLIN – The Cleburne County basketball coaches were cleaning up the gym at the end of the night Wednesday when girls coach Todd Gable took a call that eventually was to include boys coach Josh Perry.

Gable told the caller to hold on, Perry was up on Cloud 9 and he would do his best to try to get him down.

Both Cleburne County teams created some holiday hoops history Wednesday when they won their respective championships in their Holiday Hoops Classic for the first time.

The boys won their tournament for the first time, beating Clay Central 65-61 in overtime. The girls won theirs for the second time in four years, beating Alexandria 69-36.

Dayleon Brown (21 points) was named MVP of the boys tournament. Brooklyn McDaniel (31 points, 20 rebounds) was MVP on the girls side.

“This is huge for our schools and programs,” Gable said.

“I’m really excited, especially for our kids,” Perry said after being coaxed off the Cloud. “The past couple weeks they really bought into what we were trying to do defensively and tonight they get rewarded for it.”

The boys have been on a roll, winning six of their last seven. But they had to work to get their latest victory.

They were down nearly 20 in the second half and trailed by 14 at one point in the fourth quarter, but they battled back and had a chance to take the lead and possibly win it in regulation when they turned it over with 4.2 seconds to play. Clay Central missed a half-court shot at the buzzer.

The Tigers went up five in overtime and then kept the Vols at bay with free throws by Jaylan Groce and Grey Freeman down the stretch. Brown didn’t score in the overtime, but he had 14 points in the second half, including going 8-of-9 from the free throw line.

“The biggest thing is we struggled the first seven games of the year,’ Perry said. “We were 0-7 and in a bad place. We had a team meeting and got together and started figuring it out. We were so bad early on, to get to where we are now is huge, and I’m glad the kids are getting rewarded for it. [**read more]