Piedmont, AL – WIldcats rally after ‘timid’ first half, eliminate Weaver in area tourney game marked by Bothwell’s big second half, controversial ending
CLASS 3A AREA 11 TOURNAMENT
At Piedmont
Boys Games
Saks 52, Weaver 48
Piedmont 80, Wellborn 44
Friday’s Game
Championship, Saks vs. Piedmont, 7 p.m.
By Joe Medley
Saks comeback victory and elimination of Weaver in the boys’ Class 3A, Area 11 tournament was a story of the Wildcats scoring as many points in the third quarter as they did the entire first half. It was about Saks hitting 10 of 11 free throws, with Anthony Bothwell hitting all four of his in the fourth quarter, and Weaver missing nine of 14.
The fact that Weaver’s best player, senior and All-Calhoun County guard Tristan Brown, spent the last 51.1 seconds on the bench after a double-whammy illegal-screen foul and technical foul, added a controversial element to Saks’ 52-48 victory. In the end, Saks, the No. 2 area seed, walks away with a shot at Piedmont in Friday’s 7 p.m. area final at Piedmont. The Wildcats also clinched a sub-regional berth and the chance to make the Northeast Regional. “It’s big for our team,” Saks coach Jonathan Miller said. “It gives ourselves a chance to get to JSU, and that’s all you can ask for this time of year. “You just want a chance.”
That chance slipped through No. 3 seed Weaver’s hands. The Bearcats led 24-13 at halftime, only to see Saks rally for a 39-37 lead to end the third and set the stage for a dramatic fourth quarter that featured six lead changes. By far the most controversial lead change was the last. Brown, who scored 17 points and had just give the Bearcats a 48-46 lead on a drive plus and-one, was called for an illegal screen near midcourt with 51.1 seconds left. A technical foul immediately followed.
The sequence gave Brown his fourth and fifth fouls, taking him out of the game. This for a Weaver team that dismissed two of its best players, Armane Burton and Jeffrey Miles, ahead of the Calhoun County tournament. “I didn’t even know there was a screen call,” Weaver coach Beau Winn said. “I thought we stepped on the halfcourt line. He pointed at the halfcourt line. “Then when he said ‘five’ (fouls), I thought, ‘Where did he get the fourth?’ He said, ‘I called a moving screen.’” Winn said Brown doesn’t normally draw technical fouls and that Brown got the additional call that accounted for his fifth personal foul “for no reason, no language, no shoving.” “He just gave him a tech,” Winn said. “I don’t normally say anything about that, but that dictated the end of the game. “I’m not taking anything from Saks.” [read more…]
Piedmont rolls on
PIEDMONT 80, WEAVER 44: Ishmael Bethel scored 24 points, and Piedmont broke away from feisty Wellborn in the second quarter. “We got off to a bad start,” Piedmont coach Jonathan Odam said. “Playing early might’ve hurt us a little bit. “Once we got going, we picked it up.”
Bethel’s performance included two 3-pointers and two dunks. “He got us going,” Odam said. “He had the dunk to start us off. I thought it might get us going, but it didn’t. The second dunk was the one that actually got us going.” Piedmont also got 18 points from Alex Odam and 17 from Rollie Pinto. The Bulldogs clinched a sub-regional berth and will play in Friday’s 7 p.m. area championship game for the right to host a sub-regional game.
