PREP RECAP: Evangel boys, girls head to title game; LAMP wins on buzzer beater
Evangel guard Cyrek Smith drives past Restoration’s Rasheed Walker in the Lions’ win on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Evangel Christian jumped out to an early lead on Restoration Academy in the Alabama Independent School Association’s Class A semifinals on Friday, but the game didn’t go as expected.
The Lions had their way in a December matchup between the two teams, winning 55-32, but could never seem to put away the pesky Bulldogs in Friday’s matchup at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
“When the ball doesn’t fall for us, we get frustrated,” Evangel coach Kerwin Washington explained. “Our body language shows a lot. I won’t take anything away from Restoration. Restoration played an incredible game. They kept it close and that’s what they wanted to be able to do. Look at last year’s game, 27-26, last shot wins (in the 2021 semifinals). I felt this one was coming to that, too.”
In the end, the Lions fought off several rallies by the Bulldogs and did just enough to win 41-32 and advance to the Class A finals on Saturday at 7 p.m.
“It feels good,” Evangel senior guard Kennedy Holland said. “Our varsity girls and boys team both made it and we’re both trying to win a championship. It’ll be the first time in school history that girls and boys have a chance to win it at the same time and, of course, we want to do it.”
It didn’t look that way early. The Lions climbed out to an early lead but rarely looked like a team in control.
“They dictated the tempo,” Washington said, “and that frustrated us on the offensive end. We ran, we just didn’t finish. Defensively, I thought we were good pretty much all night.”
“We came out sluggish and they came out intense,” Holland explained. “Of course, when somebody hits you in the mouth, it’s all about how you respond.”
Evangel found enough offense at the end to secure the victory as Holland sank eight of his final nine free-throw attempts to finish with 12 points. Jeremiah Williams added 11, followed by Nii Addy with nine.
Karder Pritchett led Restoration with seven points.
For Evangel, there will be a trophy presented to the basketball team for the sixth consecutive year. Three of the previous five were championship trophies. Last year’s 38-30 loss to Heritage Christian resulted in a runner-up trophy.
On Saturday, the Lions will face Heritage Christian again. The key to beating the Eagles, Washington said, is “to be more disciplined on defense and be more deliberate on offense. And dictate.”
Holland said his teammates needed “to come out and play like us and don’t try to play like them. It’s all about us, it’s not about them.”
Evangel girls top Restoration
Midway through the third quarter, Evangel Christian coach Haley Rosa called a timeout.
She did it to prevent a jump ball situation on the court, but she used her time wisely, chewing out her players for their lackadaisical approach to Friday’s semifinal matchup with Restoration Academy.
“I just didn’t like the way we came out (for the second half),” Rosa said. “I thought we were a little too loose. I just think they needed to be refocused and come back out with a different mindset after that timeout or we were going to lose a good opportunity.”
Evangel (12-8) pulled away from its nine-point lead, carrying a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter on the way to a 39-21 victory over Restoration in the Alabama Independent School Association Class A semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
The Lions will play area rival Abbeville Christian for the Class A state championship on Saturday at 5 p.m.
“It feels amazing,” senior forward Ky McNeely said. “The ECA girls haven’t been here since 2015 and I feel happy to be a part of this right now. I’m just blessed and so thankful to coach Rosa and (assistant) coach (Joseph) Proctor for helping us get here.”
A lot of the Lions’ success this year can be traced to center Zaria Johnson, but the Bulldogs had faced Evangel earlier this season and were determined to keep Johnson from being a dominant factor the second time around.
With two and sometimes three players around her, Evangel would need a spark from another player and they got it in the first quarter with a pair of 3 pointers from Karley Blankenship that staked the team to an early eight-point lead.
But at that point, right up until Rosa’s timeout, the Lions seemed content to hold the slim advantage in a sloppily played contest.
“It’s always tough when you have to come in and play a team you’ve already played,” Rosa said. “We played them at Christmas time and beat them fairly easily and I feel like we came out maybe a little too complacent. We just weren’t quite as intense as we needed to be and didn’t execute some of the things that we had worked on. But our whole thing since January when we started back up after Christmas was to find a way to manufacture a win. As ugly as it was, a win’s a win.”
After Rosa’s tirade, the players seemed focused, getting three quick baskets from Johnson and another early in the fourth quarter from McNeely to extend the lead.
“I think we picked it up,” McNeely said. “We were giving up a lot of turnovers. We actually played to how the other team was playing and we could have done better. After she gave us a little pep talk, I think we turned up the heat a little.”
Blankenship and Johnson each had 13 points to lead the Lions into the state finals for the first time under Rosa with four senior starters.
“Every coach’s goal is a state championship,” she said. “I’ve had this group of seniors together since they were in the 10th grade. It’s just been a thing we’ve all constantly been working toward.”
Aja Rucker led Restoration with eight points.
BOYS
LAMP 30, BTW Magnet 29
A day after Serenity Griffin hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer to give the LAMP girls their first-ever area tournament title, Jezreel Fishoe did even better, launching a 47-foot, bank-in shot at the buzzer to lift the Golden Tigers to a one-point win over BTW Magnet and the 4A Area 5 tournament championship in Sidney Lanier’s Walker-Joiner Gym on Friday night.
Fishoe rebounded a missed three-throw attempt, dribbled frantically up the court with a defender in front, then stopped five feet short of the midcourt line and launched a shot that banked off the front of the glass and fell through at the buzzer, touching off a wild celebration as LAMP students stormed the court.
Fishoe finished with eight points, along with Smith Carter. Nick Harris added seven points and Landon Townsend had seven points and 11 rebounds. Fishoe was the tournament most valuable player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Carter and Harris.
“I’m super proud of these guys’ effort and improvement all year,” first-year LAMP coach Robb McGaughey said.
The Golden Tigers started the season 1-16 before winning the games that mattered, beating area rivals Alabama Christian and BTW Magnet once during the regular season in late January, then back to back this week in the area tournament to win the tournament title.
It marked LAMP’s second area tournament title in the 22-year history of the program, a day after the LAMP girls won the first area tournament title in school history. LAMP finished as the area tournament runner-up in 2017, 2019 and 2020 but its only other tournament title came in 2009 when the Golden Tigers advanced to the state tournament in Birmingham.
LAMP (5-19) earned its fourth sub-regional berth in the last six years and will play host to Dallas County on Tuesday, with the girls playing Dallas County at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys at approximately 7 p.m.
Chambers Academy 34, Escambia Academy 33
Cayden Hayley sank both ends of the one and one with 18 seconds left to give the Rebels the lead and T.Y. Trammell intercepted the Escambia inbounds pass with 2.1 seconds left to give Chambers a one-point victory over the Cougars in the AA semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Friday night.
Chambers will play unbeaten Autauga Academy on Monday at 2 p.m. for the Class AA state championship.
Jordan Whaley led Chambers with 15 points, followed by Hayley with 10.
Landon Sims had a team-high 14 points for Escambia (14-6) before fouling out, followed by Ja’Daniel Nettles with eight.
Heritage Christian 52, Coosa Valley Academy 25
Greyson Sanford scored 22 points and Tobias Stoutermire added 11 as the defending Class A state champions rolled into the finals for the second consecutive year with a 52-25 romp over the Rebels on Friday at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
Heritage Christian will face Evangel on Saturday at 7 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s championship game.
Ray Albright led Coosa Valley with 14 points as Heritage rolled out to a 33-12 halftime lead.
GIRLS
Sparta Academy 66, Southern Academy 42
Jamie Ellissa Deason scored 20 points and Hannah Salter added 18 as Sparta jumped out to an early 23-6 lead and cruised to victory in the AA semifinals at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Friday night.
Sparta (23-3) will play Edgewood for the Class AA state championship on Monday at noon.
Mary Grace Whatley also had 13 points for Sparta, which owned a 44-22 lead at halftime.
Lida Lewis and Trinity Wilkinson each had 10 points for Southern, followed by Madeline Chapman and Jordan James with nine points each.
Abbeville Christian 38, Jackson Academy 34
Caroline Armstrong and Taylor Hudspeth each had 10 points to lead a balanced attack as the Generals advanced to the A finals with a 38-34 win over the Eagles on Friday morning.
Anna Grace Blalock and Amiyah Govan both added nine poitns for Abbeville Christian, which will play area rival Evangel Christian for the Class A championship on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Bryline Dailey led Jackson with 17 points, followed by Anna Roberts with 11.