Yellow Jackets held without a field goal for final 11:29, scoreless for last 10:32 in Northeast Regional loss
By Al Muskewitz
JACKSONVILLE – You’d have to go back pretty far in the archives to find the last time Oxford got shutout for an entire quarter like it did Thursday and you still might not find it.
But there it was, plain as the zero in the scorebook. The Yellow Jackets were held scoreless in the fourth quarter of their Class 6A Northeast Regional semifinal and fell to Mountain Brook 52-25.
The Jackets 0-for-9 from the field in the quarter, went the last 11:49 of the game without scoring and the last 10:32 without scoring. Even when they only scored 25 in a 2017 regional loss to Parker, the Jackets never failed to score in any quarter.
“You’ve got to give Mountain Brook all the credit,” Oxford coach Joel Van Meter said. “I told my assistant on the bench never underestimate the heart of a champion. Those guys have had a lot of success and I’d say their bar is pretty high as well (a reference to his opening remarks about the standards set in the Oxford program)
“I thought they did a good job of being physical on our drives without fouling and they did a great job of rallying to the basketball. There were some areas where we might have a drop off or an open look and their recovery was great.”
The Jackets (20-13) started off fine, going 4-of-8 from the field and taking a 9-7 lead in the first quarter. But they were just 5-for-22 the rest of the game. They had 15 turnovers and were outrebounded 28-17.
“At the end of the day, when you go 9-for-30 you’re not going to win many games,” Van Meter said.
“I thought we were taking good shots – we all did what we wanted to do – as you’ve seen throughout the years those shots fall some games and some games they don’t,” senior forward Rylan Houck said. “I think we got good looks, we just didn’t execute them.”
The strong defensive finish continued a renewed trend for the Spartans (29-4). They held Minor to 14 points in the second half of their sub-regional game and Oxford to 14 points in the first half Thursday.
“Our staple at Mountain Brook basketball is pressure defense, how we defend,” Spartans coach Ty Davis said. “We gave up (76) points to Homewood in the (area) championship game and we had one of two ways we could go from that night. Minor put 40 on us in the first half, but we held them to 14 in the second.
“I think the guys took the momentum of understanding how important it is, especially in the post-season, to defend. Every possession is important. Post season you can’t relax on any possession, you’ve got to play to the final buzzer. I thought our guys did that today.”
Houck led Oxford with 20 points. He was the Yellow Jackets’ only scorer in double figures.
Ty Davis was one of three Mountain Brook scorers in double figures; he had a team-high 16. Julius Clark chipped in 15 and Kyle Layton 11.
CLASS 6A NORTHEAST REGIONAL
Boys Semifinals
Mountain Brook 52, Oxford 25
OXFORD (20-13) – Jaylen Alexander 2-5 0-0 4, Rylan Houck 7-14 2-2 20, Kyler Wright 0-5 0-0 0, Michael McGraw 0-1 1-2 1, Ashton Mitchell 0-2 0-0 0, Zurrell Garrett 0-2 0-0 0, Aaron McFarland 0-0 0-0 0, J.D. Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Jayden Lewis 0-0 0-0 0, Christian Gibson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-30 3-4 25.
MOUNTAIN BROOK (29-4) – Kyle Layton 4-10 0-0 11, Ty Davis 6-11 2-2 16, Julius Clark 7-9 1-3 15, Dive Rowe 0-5 0-0 0, Charlie McKimmon 0-1 0-0 0, Andrew Kohler 0-0 0-0 0, Lawson Gardner 0-0 0-0 0, Parks McLain 1-3 0-0 3, John Colvin 2-2 0-1 4, Jackson Beatty 0-0 0-0 0, Steve Allen 1-1 0-0 3, Parker Belt 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Donlon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-42 3-6 52.
Oxford 9 5 11 0 – 25
Mountain Brook 7 16 12 17 – 52
3-point goals: Oxford 4-8 (Houck 4-5, Wright 0-2, Jones 0-1); Mountain Brook 7-21 (Layton 3-9, Davis 2-6, Rowe 0-2, McLain 1-3, Allen 1-1). Rebounds: Oxford 17 (Houck 5); Mountain Brook 28 (Clark 5, McKimmon 5). Total fouls: Oxford 12, Mountain Brook 9. Officials: Burks, Syphers, Willis. [*** read more]
