Jacksonville, AL – No 3 seed Alexandria prevails at the foul line after exchange of haymakers with No. 6 White Plains in Calhoun County quarterfinals
CALHOUN COUNTY TOURNAMENT
(At Jacksonville State)
Wednesday’s Boys Games
Alexandria 66, White Plains 63
Piedmont 66, Anniston 53
Thursday’s Boys Games
Alexandria vs. Oxford, 4:30 p.m.
Jacksonville vs. Piedmont, 7:30 p.m.
Friday’s Boys Game
Championship, 8 p.m.
By Joe Medley
Years gone by, since WIll Ginn’s first Calhoun County tournament game as a head coach, but he filed away the feeling of that Oxford-Ohatchee mismatch. His first county-tourney win? Coaching his alma mater? On his college home floor and matching wits with one of the county’s longest-serving and best coaches? Ginn could smile once his third-seeded Alexandria team survived No. 6 White Plains 66-63 in Wednesday’s classic quarterfinal in Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Valley Cubs earned a shot against … wait for it … No. 2 Oxford in Thursday’s 4:30 p.m. semifinal. Ginn was a “young buck” when he coached one year at Ohatchee, he said. He went to Alexandria, where he’s in his first season as the Valley Cubs’ varsity head coach.
It’s a little different, coaching the county’s second-biggest school against the county’s only 6A school. That other time, he tried it with now-3A Ohatchee. “We got beat pretty good by Oxford,” he said. “We got Oxford first game. We had some young guys, and they played tough.”
Come Thursday, Ginn will coach 5A Alexandria against an Oxford team looking to extend its string of four county titles and five in six years. The Valley Cubs could prevent Oxford from making its seventh consecutive appearance in the finals. To get that chance, Ginn’s Alexandria team had to survive long-time White Plains’ coach Chris Randall’s latest offering, with Luke Bussey and Josh Wheeler doing their best to keep the Wildcats even in a four-quarter haymaker exchange. “I knew Coach Randall would have them prepared, and they have some talented guys,” Ginn said. “The Bussey kid can play. He can shoot it and see the floor so well.” [read more …]
