BOYS HOOPS: Trinity pulls away for win over STJ; Valiant Cross tops Macon East wins seventh straight

St. James’ Evan Richardson floats a shot over Trinity’s John Morris in Friday’s matchup. (Ryan Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Trinity pulled away from a 10-9 lead with seven unanswered points early in the second quarter, then held off St. James down the stretch to defeat the Trojans 51-47 at Captain Jack Court on Friday night.

“That was a typical St. James game,” Trinity coach Matt Arrighi said. “They just have a way of always keeping it there within reach.”

The Wildcats closed out 3A Area 6 play with a 3-3 record and will face Alabama Christian in the upcoming area tournament at Montgomery Academy in two weeks. Montgomery Academy won the area with a 5-1 record, followed by Trinity and Alabama Christian at 3-3 and St. James at 1-5.

The Trojans cut a double-digit deficit to six points entering the fourth quarter and drew as close as 41-38 with 3:26 remaining on a Clint Houser bank shot off the glass, but could get no closer. A Thomas Stewart shot pushed the lead back to five points and two Houser misses left the Trojans with a six-point deficit in the final minute.

Trinity got contributions from virtually every player as John Morris led a balanced attack with 15 points, followed by Persson Clements and Jackson Randall with seven points each.

“A big thing that happened in the fourth quarter was John picking up his fourth (personal) foul and he had to come out for a lot of the fourth quarter,” Arrighi said. “That’s huge for us. And our turnovers kept them in the game. But I thought our guys battled their tails off. We told them to be resilient tonight and I thought they were very resilient at the end.”

St. James, coming off its only win of the season, got 14 points from Tabor Offord and 12 each from Houser and Evan Richardson.

“The biggest thing is knowing their personnel, how to guard their personnel, then rebound and take care of the ball,” Arrighi said. “That’s the secret for us in most every game but especially this game -- if you can make them earn every point and not giving them stuff off turnovers and run outs.”

The two teams were led in prayer by Trinity interim head of school Suzanne Satcher prior to tipoff in memory of St. James senior Carter Carroll, who was killed in a tragic hunting accident last Saturday. Carroll’s funeral was on Friday afternoon in Troy, pushing tipoff for Friday’s game back 30 minutes. Proceeds from Friday’s game will be presented to the Carter Carroll Memorial initiated by the Trojans.

Trinity (14-7) remains home next week, playing host to Prattville Christian on Tuesday and BTW Magnet on Thursday. St. James (1-11) will be home next week as well, playing Pike Road on Monday and Prattville Christian on Thursday.   

Montgomery Academy 59, Alabama Christian 50

Montgomery Academy clinched the 3A Area 6 championship with a 59-50 win over Alabama Christian on Senior Night at Joe Moody Court.

A 22-point first quarter for Montgomery Academy gave the Eagles an eight-point lead, but Alabama Christian stayed close, trailing by nine points at the half and 10 entering the fourth quarter.

Skyler Stovall led a balanced MA attack with 20 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and five steals, followed by DJ Vinson with 11 points, 16 rebounds and a steal, Jarrett Friendly with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal, Cole Caddell with six points, four assists and three rebounds and Graham Martin with four points and seven rebounds. 

Montgomery Academy finished the area race with a 5-1 record, followed by Trinity (3-3) and Alabama Christian (3-3) and St. James (1-5).

Montgomery Academy (19-7) will play host to Prattville Christian on Monday.

Catholic 47, Bullock County 37

Jayden Phifer and JJ Williams combined for 24 points to lead the Knights to a 47-37 win over Bullock County in a 4A Area 4 game at PICE Arena on Friday night.

The two teams will meet again in two weeks with a playoff berth on the line in the area tournament in Tuskegee. Both finished 3-3 in area play and will be seeded second and third.

Phifer had 12 points, six rebounds, two steals and an assist, while Williams had 12 points, five rebounds and a pair of steals. Courtney Williams added seven points, six rebounds, four steals and four assists and Jo Pierce had six points and 10 rebounds. 

Catholic will travel to play Brew Tech on Saturday. 

Wilcox Central 77, Prattville Christian 56

CAMDEN -- Brady Roberson scored 21 points as the Panthers fell to Wilcox Central 77-56 in a 4A Area 5 game at Wilcox Central on Friday.

Wilcox Central improved to 4-1 in area play, followed by PCA at 4-2, Dallas County at 3-3 and BTW Magnet at 0-5.

Cade Segars added 13 points for the Panthers, followed by Justin Chapman with 11 points and 10 rebounds. PJ Evans with five points, eight assists and seven rebounds and Collier Connell with five points. 

PCA (13-13) will travel to Montgomery Academy on Monday, Trinity on Tuesday and St. James on Thursday. 

In the junior varsity game, Carter Fiacco led the Panthers with nine points in a 37-23 loss to Wilcox Central. Cody Chapman added four points and seven rebounds, followed by Wade Mora with four points and five rebounds. Owen Myrick grabbed five rebounds and Ethan Girlie grabbed four as PCA ended the season with a record of 5-8.

Valiant Cross Academy 54, Macon East Academy 48

Deshawn Hall led Valiant Cross with 27 points, 16 rebounds, six blocked shots and four steals as the Warriors won their seventh consecutive game, sweeping the season series from Macon East with a 54-48 win over the Knights on Thursday night.

Jacob Johnson led the Knights with 25 points, seven rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot, while Keagan Roney added 15 points, six steals, four rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot.

Omarion Wilson had five rebounds and four assists, along with two steals and two points, and Thaddeus Mckinney had a team-high nine rebounds along with two points, two steals and an assist. Jackson Todd had six rebounds, along with an assist and two points. 

Valiant Cross (20-4) finished region play as the second seed in AAA Region 1 and will return to action on Feb. 6 in the AAA Elite Eight. Springwood won the region with an 8-1 record, followed by Valiant Cross (7-3), Lee-Scott (7-3), Glenwood (5-5), Macon East (2-7) and Southern Prep (0-10). 

Prattville Christian 72, BTW Magnet 18

PRATTVILLE -- Cade Segars led the Panthers with 30 points as Prattville Christian defeated BTW Magnet in a 4A Area 5 game in the PCA gym on Wednesday. 

Prattville Christian (13-12) improved to 4-1 in area play and will traveled to Camden on Friday to settle the top seed and the host site for the area tournament with Wilcox Central (3-1). Dallas County is third at 3-3, followed by BTW Magnet at 0-5. 

Collier Connell added 12 points and four rebounds for PCA, followed by Brady Roberson with 10 points and four rebounds, Justin Chapman with eight points, eight rebounds and four steals and PJ Evans with six points, nine assists and four rebounds. 

Dothan 72, Prattville 36

Ty Bryant had a team-high 13 points and four rebounds as the Lions fell to Dothan in a 7A Area 3 game on Tuesday. 

Dothan led 20-10 at the end of the first quarter and 39-23 at the half before scoring 27 points in the third quarter.

Meadowview Christian 40, Lowndes Academy 37

SELMA -- Lowndes Academy, playing without leading scorer Clayton Hussey, dropped their final Class A Region 2 Area 2 game to the Trojans, 40-37, in the Meadowview Christian gym on Tuesday night.

Hussey was nursing an injured ankle and was held out of competition because the Rebels had already wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the area, but Tuesday’s loss snapped a 12-game winning streak by Lowndes (14-4), which dropped to 3-1 in area play.

Zack Azar led the Rebels with 20 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots, followed by Andrew Myers with five points and seven rebounds, Pierson Hill with four points and nine rebounds, Will Brassell with four points and three rebounds, John Ross Hollingshead with two points and six rebounds and Watters Box with two points and six rebounds.

Valiant Cross Academy 63, Lee-Scott Academy 55

Deshawn Hall had 25 points, 15 rebounds, seven blocked shots and four steals to lead Valiant Cross to a season sweep of Lee-Scott Academy with a 63-55 win on Tuesday night.

Valiant Cross took over second place with AAA Region 1 with a 6-3 record, owning the head-to-head tiebreaker with Lee-Scott. Springwood is first at 7-1, followed by Valiant Cross and Lee-Scott, Glenwood at 5-4, Macon East at 2-6 and Southern Prep at 0-10.