SOUTHEAST 4A REGION: Catholic tops Montevallo for region title

The Catholic Knights are the Class 3A Southeast Regional champions after defeating Montevallo on Wednesday. (By Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

It didn’t take long for Catholic’s players to see their shots weren’t falling. 

But there are other ways to win ballgames.

The Knights turned up the defensive pressure on Montevallo, forcing turnovers in the open court and controlling the boards to turn back the Bulldogs 50-34 and capture the Alabama High School Athletic Association Southeast Regional 3A boys championship at Garrett Coliseum on Wednesday afternoon.

“We weren’t very good early,” Catholic coach Mike Curry said. “Finally, in the second half, we started pressing and we got the game going up and down like we like to play. It helped us out. I don’t know if we had jitters or whatever the case may be, we just weren’t playing well.”

Catholic (30-4) will face Talladega (25-6) in the semifinals of the state tournament at BJCC’s Legacy Arena on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Montevallo ends the season at 25-7.

“It’s a great feeling,” Catholic junior Myles Butler said. “We were talking about it before, like (at the end of) football (season), how we’re going to go to state and win state, but for it to be here, it feels awesome.”

Butler was instrumental in the win. After leading his team to the regional finals with offense in Monday’s win over Booker T. Washington, he drew the assignment of guarding Michael Jones on Wednesday, two days after Jones had torched LAMP for seven 3-pointers in the regional semis.

Butler spent every moment talking trash to the Montevallo sophomore while pushing him around the Garrett Coliseum floor in a physical one-on-one battle.

“If we’re playing a guy like 10 (Jones) who came with 27 (points) on Monday night, you know he’s going to come out here shooting the ball with confidence so you’ve got to see if you can get in his head,” Butler said. “I got in his head a little, he started talking back to me, but he’s a good basketball player. He made some tough shots, but I was making him make tough shots, not wide-open shots.”

Jones would finish with a game-high 19 points, but was just 6 of 17 from the field and both of his 3-pointers were against other players while Butler was on the bench. Later in the game, with Butler in foul trouble, another Catholic football player, DJ Carter, drew the assignment of keeping Jones from taking over the game.

“Threes are like dunks,” Curry said. “They’re momentum changers, they’re momentum swings for them and deflating for us. He made a couple there but I thought, late, we tried to face guard him and stay attached to him. For the most part, I was pleased.”

Montevallo coach Greg Dickinson was not, protesting the Catholic defense from start to finish.

“We knew they were going to rough us up and play more physical than us,” he said. “They’ve got some really strong big guys. They roughed our guards up. The referees let it go tonight. That kind of played in their favor.

“(Jones) was frustrated tonight but (the seniors) lifted him up and told him to fight through it. We know they’re holding you, we know they’re doing this, but when he wanted to give up or he got frustrated, the seniors said, no, you fight through it, keep pushing. And he did. Toward the end of the second half, he started trying to fight through it, but there’s only so much you can do when that stuff is allowed.”

Butler offered no apologies. 

“No offense to him, but you can tell he’s not weight room, football material, so we’ve got to see how physical he is, can he handle the nudge,” Butler said. “That’s how it is.”

Catholic got an early lead, but points were at a premium as both teams misfired from close range, far range and in between. The Knights missed 27 of their 34 first-half shots and were just 2 of 15 from the 3-point arc. For the second consecutive game, leading scorer Justin Bufford couldn’t adjust in the first half, going 0 for 6 on Wednesday after going 0 for 8 on Monday.

“We took too many 3s, especially when they’re not falling,” Curry said. “I want them to shoot it if they’re open, but they’ve also got to know that if it’s not going down, you’ve got to do the other. And that’s driving to the basket.”

In the second half, the Knights started driving. Freshman point guard Johntavius Green helped the Knights hit a scoring spurt that put the game out of reach, finishing three drives with floaters in the lane after Catholic shooters went 0 for 4 from the 3-point arc in the second half and abandoned the outside shot.

“He was clutch,” Curry said. “We said it was going to be death by a thousand cuts tonight and those were some deep cuts that he put on them, just those little floaters that extended the lead out when they were trying to make a run. He played a decent floor game.”

“My coach was telling me, ‘just because you’re open, you don’t have to shoot the 3,’ so I just drove and floated,” said Green, who was selected as the regional most valuable player. 

Bufford finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Green with 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

The win put Catholic in the state tournament for only the third time in school history. Green said he dedicated his performance to Bufford, who made three regional trips the last three years as a player for Ellwood Christian, but never advanced to Birmingham.

“Justin told me he got put out his first three years and I just wanted to take him to Birmingham,” Green said. “I had to step up for my teammates. I haven’t ever been there before.”

The last two times Catholic reached the state tournament, in 1999 and 2000, the Knights brought home a state championship. 

“We’re excited but we’re not satisfied,” Curry said. “We’re going to enjoy it but we want everything that’s in the bag. We want the whole bag.”