BOYS HOOPS: MA races past St. James; ACA ends losing streak; PCA tops Holt

Montgomery Academy’s Jarrett Friendly works against Dylan Hines in the Eagles’ win over St. James on Friday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

St. James coach Mark Hall was hoping to keep the game close, but the red-hot Montgomery Academy Eagles jumped out to a 22-0 lead in the first quarter on the way to a 64-25 victory in a 3A Area 5 matchup in the St. James gym on Friday.

“I thought we started really fast,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said. “We jumped out real early, so I was happy to see that. I was happy to see our mentality from the beginning of the game be what it needed to be for us to do that. We hit some shots early, so that kind of helped. We’ve been talking a lot about trying to play to our standard every time we step on the floor, let’s try to get a little bit better each and every day and we’ll see where everything falls in February.”

For Hall’s offensively challenged team, the 22-point deficit was a nightmare. The Trojans played well after that, but it was too late to have much of an effect on the outcome. Montgomery Academy led 39-11 at the half and built a 36-point lead entering the fourth quarter, triggering a running clock.  

“When you get down like that, it’s easy to just fold up and quit,” Hall said, “but I didn’t think my guys quit. We obviously struggled offensively to do anything we wanted, but at the end of the day I’ve got to give Montgomery Academy the credit. They’re a good team and they’re well coached and they put a lot of pressure on us and we did not handle it well early. I thought as the game went on, we handled it better but by that point the game’s pretty much decided.”

Mason Ellis led the Eagles with 15 points, four assists, three steals and three rebounds, followed by Braden Gordon with13 points, six rebounds, five blocks, three assists and three steals, JayJay Jackson with nine points, four steals and two assists and Blake Parnell with eight points and eight rebounds. Jarrett Friendly chipped in seven points, 10 rebounds, five blocked shots and four steals.

Wilson Aman led St. James with 10 points.  

Montgomery Academy (12-5) improved to 3-0 in area play and will play host to Thorsby in an area game on Tuesday.

St. James (6-7) dropped to 0-2 in area play and will remain home to play host to Alabama Christian in an area game on Monday. 

Alabama Christian 49, Holtville 41

HOLTVILLE -- Christian Snipes had 13 points and seven rebounds as the Eagles jumped out to an early lead and held off Holtville, 49-41, to snap a four-game losing streak on Friday.

Levi Summers added eight points and 12 rebounds and Noah Shack had six points and three rebounds for ACA.

Parker Hilyer led Holtville (3-8) with 16 points.

Alabama Christian (6-10) will travel to St. James for a 3A Area 5 game on Monday.

Evangel Christian 37, Lowndes Academy 17

Donnell Harris scored a game-high 12 points to lead Evangel Christian to a Class AA Region 1 Area 2 win over the Rebels on Friday night.

Marquis Wood-Lucas added eight points and eight rebounds. Sam Thrasher had six points and 10 rebounds.

The Lions (7-7 overall, 2-0 in area play) will play host to Valiant Cross in an area game on Tuesday.

Prattville Christian 59, Holt 54

PRATTVILLE -- Cody Chapman had 25 points and six rebounds as the Panthers defeated Holt 59-54 in a 4A Area 6 game in the PCA gym on Friday night.

Carter Fiacco added 21 points, five steals and four rebounds, followed by Justin Chapman with eight points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists. Ethan Girlie had six assists and five rebounds, while. Wade Mora had six blocks and five rebounds. CJ Robinson scored four points.

PCA (9-11) evened its area record at 2-2 and will play host to Elmore County on Monday.

Hooper Academy 81, The Oaks 73

HOPE HULL -- Kingston White scored 33 points, including eight in the first quarter and nine in the second, to help the Colts jump out to an early lead over The Oaks and capture their first area win at Darrell Self Gym on Thursday night.

The Colts had to withstand an offensive assault from Joey Allen, who had 28 points, and Izzy Paul, who had 22, as The Oaks kept close in the first quarter before Hooper extended a three-point lead to an 11-point cushion at the half. The Colts were able to maintain the lead in the second half but Allen and Paul kept the pressure on the remainder of the game.

Jacoby Rabb added 16 points and Trey Davenport had 13 for the Colts.

Hooper Academy (13-5) improved to 1-2 in area play and will play host to Coosa Valley on Monday.

Macon East 41, Evangel Christian 36

Donnell Harris scored 12 points in the Lions’ loss to Macon East on Thursday night in the Evangel Christian gym.

D'John Wright added 10 points and Nathaniel Doss finished with five points.

The Lions (6-7) will remain home to play host to Lowndes Academy in an area game on Friday.