FRIDAY HOOPS: Trinity holds off Catholic; Hooper tops Cornerstone
Trinity’s Mac Stewart shoots over Rickie Williams of Catholic in the Wildcats’ win on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The shot selection was better for Catholic, but so, too, was the shot selection of its opponent.
The Knights looked more like a basketball team on Friday in their second game of the season, but couldn’t overtake Trinity late, falling 56-51 to the Wildcats at Captain Jack Court.
Catholic had the ball with a chance to tie on two occasions in the final three minutes, but went scoreless down the stretch as the Wildcats extended their lead at the free-throw line for their third consecutive win.
“We had our chances,” Catholic coach Mike Curry said. “This is our second game. We’re a little challenged offensively right now. I think we can get better; I think we will get better. We’re not confident offensively right now. A lot of the shots that we made late, they just lose themselves in the game, they’re not thinking about it.”
Like the season opener on Tuesday against Autaugaville, the Knights’ poor shooting put them behind early and they battled for four quarters to try and climb back into the contest. On Tuesday, despite shooting 20 percent from the floor, Catholic tied the game at the buzzer on a Rickie Williams’ 3-pointer and won in overtime.
On Friday night, both teams shot 36 percent from the field, but there were no late-game heroics for the Knights. Williams’ 3-pointer with three minutes remaining pulled Catholic within three at 51-48, but the Knights next four possessions resulted in missed opportunities or missed shots as Trinity’s advantage on the boards provided the difference in the final minutes.
In the first quarter, I thought we defended really well but we rebounded very poorly,” Trinity coach Matt Arrighi said. “It kept them around because they were getting a lot of trash buckets because we weren’t blocking out. In the second quarter, we did a little better. We struggled to ever push away because our shot selection was not great.
“In the second half, we rebounded great. I thought they got a little tired, which helps with rebounding. We rotated a lot of guys and guys stayed fresh. I thought after we got past our first quarter turnovers and rebounding issues, I thought we settled in.”
John Morris led the Wildcats with 16 points, including nine in the first half, followed by Mac Stewart with 10 points, Cayson Keller with 10 and Brady Bennett with eight.
Jo’Tavion Pierce led Catholic with 10 points and seven rebounds, despite being hampered late by foul trouble. Courtney Williams added nine points, seven rebounds, three steals and five assists, followed by Garrett Sanford with eight points and five rebounds and William Hodges with eight points and seven rebounds.
“They were in better shape, better condition than us,” Curry said. “They made more basketball plays down the stretch than us. You can probably attribute it to them being 10 games ahead of us. But I told the guys tonight I was not upset with their effort. I was not upset with their energy. But I looked out there at times and Rickie was tired; Wilson was tired; Courtney was tired. They just need to get conditioned.”
Catholic (1-1) jumps back into action on Saturday afternoon at St. James before playing Prattville Christian in the first round of the Jack Schweers Capital City Classic at Trinity on Tuesday.
Trinity (8-3) will face BTW Magnet in the opening round of the Jack Schweers Capital City Classic on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at Captain Jack Court.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Trinity 62, James Clemens 42
HUNTSVILLE -- Mya Moskowitz scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Wildcats to an opening-round victory in the Bob Jones Tournament of Champions on Friday night.
Maddie Smith scored 15 points, had five steals and handed out four assists, while Francie Morris scored 12 points, dished out seven assists and grabbed five rebounds.
Trinity will play Guntersville on Saturday morning.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Hooper Academy 79, Cornerstone Christian 45
HOPE HULL -- Nolan Cole scored 27 points, including 19 in the first half, to lead the Colts to a 79-45 win over Cornerstone Christian on Friday night in Darrell Self Gym.
Luke Mosley added 17 points, including nine in the third quarter, as the Colts extended a 39-25 halftime lead with a 28-point third quarter. Lucas Spellman had 11 points for the Colts.
Noah Gassner led Cornerstone with 29 points, scoring 15 in the first half.
Hooper (6-3) remains home to play Evangel Christian on Monday before taking a break for Christmas.
Lowndes Academy 62, Chambers Academy 39
LOWNDESBORO -- Clayton Hussey had 23 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, seven steals and a blocked shot to lead the Rebels to a first-round win in a tournament in the Lowndes gym.
Lowndes Academy (5-3) will play Lakeside, an opening round winner over Southern, in the tournament championship game on Saturday.
Chambers will play Southern Academy in a consolation game on Saturday.
Lowndes jumped out to a quick lead over Chambers, leading 27-10 at the end of the first quarter and 39-19 at the half.
In addition to Hussey, Watters Box also scored in double figures, finishing with 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and an assist. Andrew Myers had nine points, five rebounds, four steals and an assist, followed by Zach Azar with five points, eight rebounds, four steals and a pair of blocked shots, John Ross Hollingshead with five points, two rebounds and five steals, Pierson Hill with three points and two rebounds, Will Brassell with three points and Dylan Courtney and Reid Owen with two points each.
Greg Hayley led Chambers with 16 points, followed by Hunter Andrews with five.