1A SW BOYS FINAL: Autaugaville outlasts Keith, oddities in 63-51 victory

Autaugaville wins the Southwest 1A boys regional over ADSFAASF;AFADSKeith at Garrett Coliseum on Wednesday. (Graham Dunn)

BY TIM GAYLE 

Autaugaville survived a late start, the fouls, the free throws and just about anything Keith could throw at them in the Southwest Regional final at Garrett Coliseum.

And that was before the officiating crew was swapped out in the middle of the contest.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Jaden Nixon hit a pair of 3 pointers early and the defending state champions weathered a variety of challenges during the game before earning a repeat trip to the state tournament with a 63-51 win over the Bears on Wednesday night.  

Autaugaville (25-2) will face Decatur Heritage in the state semifinals for the second consecutive year by advancing to the BJCC’s Legacy Arena on Monday at 10:30 a.m. Autaugaville has made back-to-back trips to the state tournament in 1991, 1995 and 2005 but the Eagles have never won consecutive state championships.

“It feels good, I’m not going to lie,” Autaugaville senior Ladarrien Golson said.

First, the Eagles had to survive a challenge from the Bears, their regional final opponent for the second consecutive year. After climbing out to a 17-6 lead with 3:42 remaining in the first half, Keith coach Marcus Turner called a timeout. During the break, Alabama High School Association officials elected to replace all three members of the officiating crew with a new squad, unhappy with the officiating to that point.

Autaugaville coach Darren Golson said he had never had that happen in a game in which he participated.

“I’ve never even seen it happen,” Golson said. “But they saw something I didn’t see. That’s why they get paid the big bucks.”

The game took a turn at that point, with 10 of the next 11 fouls called on the Eagles, resulting in an 8-0 run by Keith to close out the half, trimming the deficit to 21-14.

“When the refs changed, I said ‘man,’” LaDarrien Golson said. “When they called everything back to back (on the Eagles), I said this is going to be a tough game. So we’ve got to go with the refs. We just had to see who wanted it the baddest and we just worked hard and got it.”

The original officiating crew called 13 personal fouls in the first 12-plus minutes, resulting in three trips to the free-throw line for each team. Autaugaville was 3 of 5, while Keith was 2 of 6.

The replacement crew called 37 personal fouls in the final 19 minutes, leading to an incredible 56 free throws shot by the two teams.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Nixon said. “We got ready for anything. When they changed the refs, we weren’t really ready for it, but we had to play in the end. It was tough, I ain’t going to lie. But somebody’s got to come out in the end on top.”

That was Autaugaville, hitting 17 of 26 free throws in the final 19 minutes of the game to survive 28 personal fouls whistled against the Eagles.

“Our offense and defense is predicated on, in the first part of the game, how the referees are going to call it and we adjust,” Darren Golson noted. “So we had to get readjusted to three different referees.”

“It’s really hard,” Ladarrien Golson added. “We didn’t know they were going to (call) fouls like that, so we had to keep our hands away from the ball and play tight ‘D.’”

In any case, the Eagles knew that to advance to Birmingham, they would have to play tight defense on Tommy Tisdale, who had 31 points in the regional semifinal. Against the Autaugaville defense, he failed to make a field goal in 16 attempts and committed eight turnovers. He finished with 13 points, going 13 for 15 at the free throw line.

“Basically, if he was in your area, you played him man-to-man and didn’t let him go,” Darren Golson explained. “We didn’t play him a box-and-one because that’s different from what we do, so if he was in your area, you played him. You didn’t go for the eye candy. Stay on No. 23. It worked out well for us.”

Ladarrien Golson started the job that others, including Nixon and Antonio Hardy, finished. Golson had six steals, frustrating Tisdale repeatedly. 

“All we had to do is deny,” Ladarrien Golson said. “Don’t cheat, don’t gamble. When we don’t do that, we’re right on point.”

Nixon took charge late, scoring seven of his 24 points in the final two minutes after the Bears pulled within six points. Darren Golson called a timeout and had a simple message for his players. 

“Relax, we’re OK,” he said. “The coach got a little keyed up over here and they kind of followed me, so I’ve got to learn to settle down.”

Ladarrien Golson added 18 points, followed by Jermaine Sanders with 12.

Anthony Lumpkin led Keith (17-9) with 18 points, making the Bears’ only 3 pointer in eight attempts as the Autaugaville defense held Keith to 28 percent (13 of 46) from the field. 

“We practiced defense in practice, holding Tisdale, how we were going to stop him,” Nixon said, “because he was their leading scorer. Just knowing he was 0-for the game is just great.”