3A SE BOYS SEMIS: Montgomery Academy can't hold late lead in loss to Houston Academy
Jamal Cooper goes into the lane for a shot against Houston Academy during Thursday’s Class 3A semifinal game at Garrett Coliseum. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Montgomery Academy had led for most of its 3A Southeast Regional semifinal matchup with Houston Academy but as the Raiders battled back to take a late lead, it was going to take a team effort from the Eagles to pull out a victory.
Judson Lindsey forced a turnover, Jamal Cooper hit a shot in the lane for the late lead and Jashawn Cooper applied the defense on the other end, but it wasn’t enough as Kadyn Mitchell’s acrobatic bank off the glass gave the Raiders a 45-44 win on Thursday evening at Garrett Coliseum.
Houston Academy (21-9) will play Dadeville for the Southeast Regional championship on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., while Montgomery Academy ends the season at 12-11.
“We were able to get a six- or seven-point lead for much of the second half, but we just missed a couple of opportunities down the stretch,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said. “They’ve got a big guy inside with long arms and playing a wide zone with him in the middle so it make it tough to get perimeter shots off and tough if you’re not an elite-level athlete that can avoid that guy.”
Jamal Cooper, who finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, made the tough shot in the lane with 16.8 seconds remaining to put MA in front 44-43 and teamed up with his brother Jashawn on the other end of the floor to stop Mitchell’s drive to the basket, but the Raiders’ top player contorted his body away from the pressure and banked a desperation shot high off the glass and went through the net for the game-winning points.
“Coach said we need to run a certain play and I dribbled up the court and it just wasn’t there,” Mitchell said. “I looked at the time and I knew if anybody was going to take the shot, they wanted it to be me. When I was driving, No. 4 (Jashawn Cooper) stepped up and I thought he was going to take a charge. I tried to lean back and I tried to fade away and shoot it, but he came at me. He had his hands up. I couldn’t pass. I just threw it at the goal and it banked off.”
Houston Academy coach Scott Whitaker watched in awe as his star scored his 22nd point with his best shot of the day.
“He manipulates the ball like a magician off the backboard,” Whitaker said. “I’ve had a couple of players in my career that do that, but nobody quite like him. I give his family a lot of credit. He always played with older, bigger guys so he always had to find a way when he was younger to get those shots off and make them go in.
“That’s the result of a big-time player making a big-time play.”
It still wasn’t over. A quick timeout left the Eagles with 4.8 seconds remaining and a pair of quick passes left the ball in Jamal Cooper’s hands at midcourt. He drove through the lane, angled around a flat-footed Adam Kesserwani and banked a shot, too hard, off the glass. The ball was tipped as it came off the rim and ended up in Jashawn Cooper’s hands but he couldn’t get a shot up in time.
“We were in a zone defense but were basically playing a ‘man’ defense,” Mitchell said. “I was hesitant because we haven’t played ‘man’ all season. I called out our man-to-man defense but I called out our man-to-man overplaying defense, where we don’t allow passes easy. I was nervous about that because they have good players that penetrate well so we couldn’t really help (double up on players).
“No. 3 (Jamal Cooper) got in there and made tough baskets, but I have faith in Adam not to foul in those situations. Rod (Jackson) played the best defense he could but No. 3 was quick. When he got around Rod, I yelled at Adam, ‘Hands up, hands up.’ Adam, he’s 6-5 with a good wingspan. We had said in the huddle ‘tip it, tip it’ and we tipped it and it gave them no more time to get a shot off.”
Cole Caddell added 11 points for Montgomery Academy, but the Eagles struggled down the stretch, making fewer steals and committing more turnovers than in recent games while failing to win the rebounding battle (both teams had 30) and getting just 18 minutes from Nigel Walker, who was in foul trouble for most of the game.
But after missing the first two weeks of the season because of football, Arant was proud of his team’s ability to reach the regionals for the first time since 2015.
“Hats off to our seniors and their leadership,” he said. “Any time you don’t start practicing until Dec. 7 or 8, it’s going to take you a while to get going. We didn’t win two games in a row until January. We talked with our guys every day that every chance we had to step on the court, whether it’s a game or practice, we’ve got to use that as a chance to get better. It’s hard for kids to grasp that and understand that. We played our best the last three or four weeks, so a huge credit to those kids and the hard work that they put in.”