Jacksonville, AL – Alexander finds lots of help as Oxford opens season with 80-48 victory at Jacksonville. Oxford girls place four in double figures en route to victory.
By Joe Medley
Jaylen Alexander draws a crowd, be it fans, recruiting media or defenders ready to help on him wherever Oxford’s junior guard goes.
To his crowd, he says, meet his posse.
Jayden Lewis matched Alexander’s team-high 18 points, and two other Oxford players scored in double figures as the Yellow Jackets won 80-48 at Jacksonville on Monday.
Marcus Perry added 16 points and Christian Latson 13 as Oxford avenged a loss to Jacksonville in last year’s Calhoun County title game.
Alexander is coming off of a big summer that saw him bag college offers, most notably from Auburn.
“This year’s version of him is, he’s got a lot of help,” Oxford coach Joel Van Meter said. “That’s the difference.
“Not that those other guys who graduated, I’m not saying anything bad about them, but he’s got a lot of help. There’s a lot of pieces in there.”
Alexander would’ve had more help last year, but a back injury sidelined T.J. Allen. Perry was just a freshman last season. So was Latson.
Allen graduated, but Perry and Latson are a year older, a year more capable.
“Last year, I was taking a lot of shots, forcing it against a lot of double teams I was shooting shots over,” Alexander said. “This year, a lot of people have been putting in the work.
“They just can’t double me the whole game. If they double me, I’ll pass it, and other guys are going to score. It’s making the game way easier than it was last year.”
Lewis had a biggest assist Monday.
“Jayden Lewis comes out first game of his senior season and, to me, I thought he just dominated the game physically,” Van Meter said.
Jacksonville is retooling after guard Devin Barksdale, the 2023-24 East Alabama Sports Today All-Calhoun County player of the year, transferred to play his senior season at Gadsden City, where his godfather, Raphael Graves, is head coach.
Barksdale was an integral part of two Class 4A state-title teams at Jacksonville and most valuable player of last year’s county title game.
Top returnee Aaron Nixon led the Golden Eagles on Monday with 13 points and six rebounds. Kamouri Harmon added nine.
Monday’s game was the first for five players whose football season ended Friday, in a playoff loss at Scottsboro.
“They’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” Jacksonville coach Tres Buzan said. “As the season goes along, we’ll have to see who steps into what roles, but it’s really early. Everybody’s getting minutes right now, and we’ll see what they can do.
“Tough first game. Ton of credit to Oxford. They’ve got a really good squad this year. They’re going to give a lot of people problems.”
Girls’ game
OXFORD 68, JACKSONVILLE 47: Whereas Oxford’s boys have found played to help their returning star, the girls are trying to replace one.
Reigning county 4A-6A player of the year Xai Whitfield plays for Tennessee State University now, and her former supporting cast is absorbing her production. Takayvia Boyd led the way Monday with 19 points. Bri Wilson and Ava Thomas added 14 apiece, and Shay Montgomery scored 13.
Wilson has become a bigger key to the Yellow Jackets’ fortunes.
“We still have a lot of growing to do, everybody, but as far as stepping into that role of controlling the game, being that point guard and being the leader on the floor, dictating pace, she’s stepped into in that role,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said.
Jacksonville’s press made it hard in the first half Monday, and the Golden Eagles edged out to a 28-26 lead late in the second quarter.
Oxford answered with a 17-1 run to take a 43-29 lead in the third quarter. Jacksonville closed within seven twice after that, the last a 47-40 spread on one of Neveah Nicholson’s six 3-pointers, but came no closer in the second half
“We finally started doing what we worked on in our press break,” Bennett said. “They’ve got a great press, and they gave us a lot of trouble. We got sloppy with our passes.
“When we locked in on that, cleaned up our passes, we got some easier looks up the floor.”.
The Golden Eagles, which opened with a 70-44 victory over Gadsden City on Saturday, got 20 points from Nicholson and 14 from Jayci Taylor.
“Oxford is a great team, and we just had to compete,” Jacksonville coach Corey Mize said. “I thought we did a pretty good job competing. We just had some mental mistakes. We weren’t getting back on defense, and we let them throw over our press. We had some silly turnovers in the halfcourt.
“I think we can compete with them. They’re a great team. I think we’re competitive, too. We just have to execute better.”
