Jacksonville continues on its road to destiny, puts 5 in double figures, 3 with double-doubles, to beat Handley for first trip to Final Four since 2004
By Al Muskewitz
JACKSONVILLE — The first day Shane Morrow met with his new Jacksonville basketball team, before he even said the first formal word to them as their head coach, he wrote three words on the dry-erase board to address what he called the elephant in the room.
“Why not us?”
Morrow knew the huge expectations placed upon his new team and didn’t want the players — who no doubt knew them, too — to shy away from them.
As deep and star-studded as the Golden Eagles were, the expectations were Birmingham or bust.
They continued on that road Wednesday, punching their ticket to the Class 4A Final Four with an 83-66 win over Handley for the Northeast Regional title.
The Golden Eagles (26-5) will play the winner of Thursday’s Southeast Regional final between B.T. Washington and St. James Tuesday 4:30 p.m. at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena. It will be their third trip ever to the Final Four and first since 2004.
“I just wanted to address the elephant in the room with these guys,” Morrow said, recalling that first meeting. “We knew the expectations and you had one of two choices when you’ve got these expectations. You can try to avoid it and run from it or you can embrace it.
“I put it on the board and told a little story, but I wanted to address why not us. We went around the room and talked about what could cause us not to be where we wanted to be, whether it be injury, COVID, selfishness, selfish play, not loving each other, whatever they thought could get in our way and wrote it on the board.
“I said we can’t control injury, we can’t control COVID, but these other things we can control. We talked about the elephant in the room. I said it’s OK to have that expectation, that’s a good thing, better than the cupboard being bare, but what are we going to do about it? Are we going to embrace that and run with it and do what it takes to get there or are we just going to shy away from it? They’ve embraced it. They’ve definitely embraced it.”
In this postseason where the next loss ends the dream, the Golden Eagles put away the No. 1 team in the state on Saturday and Wednesday they survived two stretches with their two top threats, Cade Phillips and John Broom, both were on the bench in foul trouble.
The experience of playing without Phillips for the three weeks prior to the area tournament helped them get through this latest test. The stretch gave other players a chance to get comfortable in their roles and gave the Golden Eagles as a whole confidence they could be successful without one of their big pieces.
The first time they were without their two stars Wednesday, Handley took advantage, cutting an eight-point Jacksonville lead that had been as many as 12 to three with 1:47 left in the third.
Morrow had seen enough. He sent them both back in at that point and immediately, thanks to two more blocked shots by Phillips and six straight points by Broom – a put-back sandwiched between four free throws – the lead went back to nine.
“There’s no tomorrow, you’ve just got to let them go,” Morrow said. “If they foul out, they foul out. If I’m going to go down, I’m going to go down swinging. Literally, there’s no tomorrow. You’ve got to put them back in. (Phillips) alters the game so much. John’s going to go get the ball and help us out. If I’m going to go down, I’m going to go down swinging with my best players out there.”
It had been like that a lot up to that point in the game. Jacksonville would pull out to what seemed like a comfortable lead and Handley would bring it back, but just not quite enough to draw even. The Tigers (18-12) never led, but their heart and hustle gave them a chance, just as it had all season.
The Tigers tried to go inside, but Phillips, when he was in the game, was always there to either alter shots or swat them back. Rondai Banks led Handley with 20 points but his foul trouble kept him and the Tigers from being as effective as they needed to be against Jacksonville’s length and pace.
The Golden Eagles forced Handley into 27 turnovers, off which they scored 32 points.
Jacksonville was up 11 the second time Phillips and Broom went out after collecting their fourth fouls; Phillips went first with 6:49 to play and Broom followed about 90 seconds later. This time, instead of the gap closing, the Johnson twins, Caden and Camren, helped the Golden Eagles push the margin to 16.
Jacksonville put five scorers in double figures and had three with double-doubles. Broom, the tournament MVP, had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Caden Johnson had 14 points and 15 boards. Phillips had 13 points and 11 blocks in 16 minutes. Camren Johnson and freshman Devin Barksdale both had 10 points.
“We had a lot of guys step up and play well today; that’s what it took to win,” Morrow said. “There are 14 guys on that bench and I’m not afraid to play any of them. I know some of them don’t get to play, but I wouldn’t be nervous if 1 through 14 were out there.”
This story will be updated.
CLASS 4A NORTHEAST REGIONAL
Boys championship
Jacksonville 83, Handley 66
JACKSONVILLE (26-5) – Camren Johnson 4-7 0-0 10, Caden Johnson 3-10 8-11 14, John Broom 8-17 4-5 21, Cade Phillips 4-8 5-10 13, Julian Hill 2-8 0-0 5, JaeTaj Morris 0-0 0-0 0, Devin Barksdale 3-7 2-2 10, Quin Long 2-6 2-2 6, Jaliek Long 2-6 0-0 4, Ethan Duke 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-70 21-30 83.
HANDLEY (18-12) – Maurice Cameron 3-12 1-2 7, Cannon Kyles 4-7 0-0 9, Jay Haynes 2-9 4-5 8, Devontae Higgins 2-5 0-0 4, Rondai Banks 7-17 5-8 20, TaMarious Treadwell 2-9 0-1 4, Terrance Tucker 2-5 4-7 8, Ayden O’Neal 2-4 1-1 5, Jay Heath 0-0 0-0 0, Amajah Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan West 0-2 1-2 1, T’Marion Phillips 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-70 16-26 66.
Jacksonville 18 17 19 29 – 83
Handley 14 14 19 19 – 66
3-point goals: Jacksonville 6-20 (Cm. Johnson 2-5, Broom 1-3, Hill 1-4, Barksdale 2-5, Q. Long 0-1, J. Long 0-2); Handley 2-8 (Cameron 0-1, Kyles 1-1, Higgins 0-1, Banks 1-1, Treadwell 0-3, O’Neal 0-1). Rebounds: Jacksonville 48 (Cd. Johnson 15, Broom 11, Phillips 7, Q. Long 6); Handley 55 (Banks 10, Cameron 8, Haynes 7). Fouled out: Banks. Total fouls: Jacksonville 22, Handley 24. Officials: Willis, Marbury, Johnson.
ALL-TOURNAMENT
Rondai Banks, Handley
Cannon Kyles, Handley
Chase McCarty, Westminster Christian
Cade Phillips, Jacksonville
Caden Johnson, Jacksonville
John Broom, Jacksonville (MVP)
Girls championship
JACKSONVILLE – Freshman Kaylee Yarbrough, the tournament MVP, scored 23 points, eighth-grader Jada Bates had 20 and New Hope hit 14 of 18 free throws in the final 3:30 of the game to hold off Handley 70-62 in the 4A Northeast Regional girls championship game.
Teanna Watts gave Handley every chance down the stretch. She scored 15 of her game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter, sometimes with multiple defenders on her, but every time the Lady Tigers scored they had to foul to stop the clock and most of the time New Hope converted to keep them at arm’s length.
The Lady Indians (26-5) were 22-of-32 from the line for the game. Yarbrough and Bates were 10-of-14 in the fourth quarter with Bates going 4-for-6 in the final 45 seconds.
“We work on free throws probably more than anybody in the state,” New Hope coach Craig McGill said.
The Lady Tigers came from 11 down in the first half to take a 39-38 lead with 3:35 left in the third quarter, but the Lady Indians stayed calm, Yarbrough hit a bucket and a 3-pointer to put them back on top and Handley just couldn’t overtake them again.
“That’s sort of the characteristic of this team,” Handley coach Courtney Screws said. “These kids and their resiliency, they never quit. Seven seconds left on the game clock, we’re down eight, and Teanna Watts is still going hard to the basket. There is no quit in this group.”
McGill called it a “special day” for both he and junior post Kaylee Lebon. It was Lebon’s mom’s birthday and the birthday of McGill’s mother, who passed away five years ago.
“We got a dose of them last year; they put us out,” McGill said. “We talked about Handley every day since, how they out-physicalled out and out-toughed us and I thought we did a good job responding today trying to get a little bit of redemption.”
CLASS 4A NORTHEAST REGIONAL
Girls championship
New Hope 70, Handley 62
HANDLEY (23-10) – Takeriauna Mosley 6-14 0-0 13, Teanna Watts 10-25 13-17 35, Emelia Askew 2-4 2-5 14, Jayla Trammell 0-2 0-0 0, Shaniah Allen 0-1 0-1 0, Takeira Tucker 1-2 3-4 5, Kia Brown 1-1 1-4 3, Tiana Nolan 0-3 0-2 0, Iyanna Norman 0-0 0-0 0, ZaNautika Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 19-33 62.
NEW HOPE (26-5) – Jordan Spivey 1-6 4-6 6, Kaylee Lebon 5-6 2-2 12, Jada Bates 7-9 6-12 20, Eevy Bellar 0-6 0-3 0, Kaylee Yarbrough 6-15 8-10 23, Hope Hammond 1-1 0-00 2, Kacey Thompson 1-2 0-0 3, Sadie Saxon 0-0 0-0 0, Hayley Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Hammond 0-0 0-0 0, McKinlee Keel 1-3 2-2 4, Lily Dewberry 0-0 0-0 0, Ansley Sadler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 22-32 70.
Handley 14 14 16 18 – 62
New Hope 19 15 13 23 – 70
3-point goals: Handley 3-5 (Mosley 1-2, Watts 2-3); New Hope 4-12 (Spivey 0-2, Bellar 0-3, Yarbrough 3-5, Thompson 1-1, Keel 0-1). Rebounds: Handley 38 (Askew 14, Watts 6); New Hope 34 (Lebon 11). Fouled out: Mosley, Askew, Trammell, Spivey, Bellar, Keel. Total fouls: Handley 27, New Hope 26. Officials: Burroughs, Stringer, Lybrand.
ALL-TOURNAMENT
Shiwanna Jackson, Anniston
Teanna Watts, Handley
Takeriauna Mosley, Handley
Kaylee Lebon, New Hope
Jada Bates, New Hope
Kaylee Yarbrough, New Hope (MVP) [*** read more]
