4A BOYS SEMIS: Jacksonville uses 17-point run to top St. James
St. James guard Bradley Thomas evades John Broom of Jacksonville in Tuesday’s Class 4A boys semifinals at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
BIRMINGHAM -- For about three minutes, St. James had the upper hand on Jacksonville in the Class 4A semifinals at Legacy Arena.
When Jacksonville woke up, they rallied with a vengeance, scoring 17 unanswered points and taking control on Tuesday’s game in a 51-37 victory over the Trojans on Tuesday afternoon.
“That was a heck of a basketball team we played against,” St. James coach Nigel Card said. “I thought our kids competed hard. We had an opportunity about midway through that game to get back in it and have a chance to win it but things didn’t go our way.”
The Trojans wouldn’t go away, entering the fourth quarter with a seven-point deficit and a chance to cut it to five. But as they had all day, the Golden Eagles answered the challenge, extended the lead back to 14 points as St. James’ final 11 possessions of the game resulted in four free throws on three separate trips downcourt, five missed shots and three turnovers.
“The defense, certainly, was helping in (keeping the game close), but I thought we missed some opportunities on the offensive end,” Card said. “We had some potential opportunities to hit some layups, make some free throws and we turned the ball over at some critical times when we were making that push and I thought that really affected us.”
Whether it was perception or reality, the buzz around the 4A semifinal was on Cade Phillips, the 6-foot-9 junior who transferred from Westbrook Christian at the beginning of the year. Phillips’ mother played basketball at Alabama, while his father and uncle were starting quarterbacks at Alabama.
“What an athlete,” Card said. “We were watching the film (to prepare for the game) and purposely I sat in the back and wanted to see the reaction of the kids when he went baseline and dunked. We had heard he was a tremendous player, but that doesn’t faze these guys. He was going to be a challenge, we knew that, but it wasn’t going to change what we were going to do.”
Phillips made just two field goals, finishing with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds but also recording five blocked shots in Tuesday’s game.
“He affects the game in so many ways that’s not on the stat sheet,” Jacksonville coach Shane Morrow said. “You see teams think about driving, then they see 12 in the middle and they just pull it back out. I think he’s brought a little more toughness to us defensively.”
St. James’ center, KJ Jackson, took just six shots and had just seven points, but kept the Trojans close with 14 rebounds.
“They were trying to get it inside, so we tried to make them pay,” Phillips said. “They were banging it around in there and that’s kind of the way I’m fine playing with.”
The Trojans needed a strong performance in the second and fourth quarters in order to repeat the inspiring regional championship win over Booker T. Washington, but went 3 of 12 in the second quarter and missed all five shots in the fourth quarter. The defensive performance kept the Trojans close, but there was no offensive spark on Tuesday.
“I want to give St. James credit, they’re a heck of a team,” Morrow said. “Coach does a really good job with them. They gave us fits, especially on defense early on.”
Caden Johnson had 13 points, John Broom scored 12 and Phillips added 10 as Jacksonville (27-5) advanced to the 4A state championship game on Friday at 5:45 p.m. against Escambia County.
“It’s a huge honor,” Phillips said. “As a kid, you talk with your best friends growing up. ‘Hey, I can see us here in the future,’ seeing the guys we looked up to as kids, playing in this game and being here. At the beginning of the year, that’s something you dream about.”
Making the state tournament wasn’t something St. James (17-8) considered at the beginning of the season.
“It felt like a dream this year,” Matt Middleton said. “We didn’t expect to go this far at all, maybe not even make it out of the first regional game with Dallas County. It was really nice to come this far. It was just amazing to us.”
Jackson praised the senior leadership on the history-making Trojan squad.
“I know we got to play under great leadership from Bradley Thomas, Jake Yohn and Barr (Armistead),” he said. “I was lucky to be able to play with them my sophomore year.”
The Trojans earned a berth in the regionals for only the fifth time in the current format that started in 1994. St. James reached the regional finals in 2015, then broke through last week with a win over area rival Booker T. Washington for their first trip to the state tournament.
“It was a great opportunity,” said Thomas, who led the team in scoring with 11 points on Tuesday. “We upset schools. It was fun. We’ve been playing with each other since football (so) we were close. We hang out outside of football. It was fun playing with this group of guys.”
Card believes this year’s journey has made the school’s supporters appreciate the sport.
“I think it’s huge,” he said. “I think it lit a fire under our fan base. They’re excited about what they saw. This is the first time they’ve experienced a team going this far. To be one of the final four teams, that’s huge for our school. It changed the attitude about basketball.”