BOYS 4A SEMIS: Westminster Christian eliminates Catholic

Catholic’s Brennan Binns looks to drive against the Westminster defense in the Knights’ game on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE
BIRMINGHAM -- Catholic coach Mike Curry had seen plenty of film on Westminster Christian. Still, nothing could prepare him for the onslaught he witnessed on Tuesday.

The Knights went nearly six minutes without a basket in the first quarter as the Wildcats built a 28-4 lead and cruised to a 61-28 win over Catholic in the 4A semifinals at Legacy Arena.

“I think they probably had their wakeup call at the regional,” Curry said, “because they played at a different speed, a different level and a different focus than what we did. Deshler kind of handled them pretty good. (Westminster) made their run and won the game (55-51 in the Northwest Regional final), but I would be safe to say they had their wakeup call and they were fuming today. They got after us.

“Tonight, we got out-everythinged. We got outplayed but we got outcoached, too. My hat goes off to Coach (Ronnie) Stapler. They played really well tonight. We didn’t play well at all and they had a lot to do with that.”

Westminster Christian (29-3) will play Jacksonville (28-6) for the 4A state championship on Friday at Legacy Arena at 5:45 p.m. 

“I’m really proud of these guys,” Stapler said. “We’ve had an incredible season. We have a great player and then a bunch of other really good players around him that understand that he’s our best player. They complement him and he complements them and that’s what has made our team so good all year long.” 

Catholic’s Josh Palmer was held to a team-high six points, drawing the difficult task of being matched up with 6-foot-6 Chase McCarty, one of the state’s top juniors.

“Majority of the time, we’re already undersized but we play big in our hearts,” Palmer said. “Tonight, we were way undersized and they came out with the mentality of kill on first sight and we were laid back. Coach always tells us we can’t have a slow start against a good team, it’ll be a long night and it finally caught up with us.

“It was very frustrating. Scoring two points in the first quarter? I don’t even know how that’s even possible. Six points in the half is crazy. I just feel like we weren’t locked in and focused like we were supposed to be.”

Catholic made just 3 of 21 shots in the first half, missing all nine 3-point attempts. For the game, the Knights connected on just 1 of 19 3-point attempts. 

“We really set the tone from the beginning of the game,” McCarty said. “Eric (Robinson) had a steal or deflection -- we had three deflections in the first four (Catholic) possessions. When you start like that, you’ve got all the momentum in the world and we capitalized from defense to offense.”

McCarty wasn’t perfect, hitting just 6 of 14 shots and just one of his three 3-point attempts, but he finished with a game-high 17 points and a team-high six rebounds. Robinson added 14, followed by Jackson Hammond with 10. 

“I’ve never coached a kid -- and I’ve coached three Mr. Basketballs -- that works like this guy does,” Stapler said of McCarty. “A lot of guys can make shots at home or they can make shots where they play all the time. This dude makes shots everywhere. He’s an unbelievable worker and an unbelievable kid.”

The Knights were held to 24.1 percent from the field (13 of 54), heating up with five field goals in each of the final two quarters, but it was far too late for a team that trailed 38-6 at the half.

Palmer had nine rebounds and four blocked shots to go with his six points. Jayden Phifer and LJ Green also had six points. 

Catholic finished 19-6 after the success of the football team delayed the start of the basketball season until Dec. 2. Despite the lopsided loss, Curry was proud of a team that reached the state tournament for the third time in four years, reaching the 4A semifinals in 2020 and 2023 and the 3A finals in 2021.

“To be honest, this is probably one of the least likely teams that we thought would be here,” Curry said. “We got hot at the right time. We had a little scare at the beginning of the area tournament and almost got put out in the first round … and we ended up here. I told the guys after that we’ve earned the right to be here. Be proud of it and play like it.”