BOYS SUB-REGIONAL: Montgomery Academy takes care of business;
Sumter’s Kendal Wade goes up for a shot against Jarrett Friendly in Montgomery Academy’s sub-regional win on Satiurday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Montgomery Academy senior Will Renfroe was a highly acclaimed shooter two years ago after leading the junior varsity Eagles to an undefeated season but he was largely overlooked on last year’s 3A state championship team.
“We were so deep last year so it’s hard to see,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said. “Our coaching staff has known what Will brings to the table. When he was on the JV in the 10th grade, our JV went 20-0 and he and Braden (Gordon) were the two leading scorers. But we saw it every day in practice. It’s nice that everyone else gets to see what Will can do.”
Montgomery Academy (25-7) returned to the Central Regionals after disposing of Sumter Central (15-8) 67-40 in a 3A sub-regional game at Joe Mooty Court on Saturday night. And while the usual scoring leaders polished off the Jaguars, there was a fourth person listed among the statistical leaders that Montgomery Academy fans were glad to see.
Mason Ellis had 15 points, six assists and four rebounds and Jarrett Friendly had 15 points, 18 rebounds, seven blocked shots and five steals. Gordon added 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists. And right there with the other three was Renfroe with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six steals.
“We’ve been trying to get him to be more and more aggressive as the season goes on,” Arant said. “We’re really looking for that fourth and fifth scorer. We know that Will can really shoot it. From here on out, some guys are going to have to step up and score the ball for us. And he can definitely do that.”
Renfroe came into the game in a mopup role last year, but with eight seniors on the team, there wasn’t a lot of playing time for the junior. This year, not only did the playing time increase but so did his role on the team.
“It’s a very different role,” he admitted. “Last year, I just kind of came off the bench and it didn’t really matter what I did because when I came out we were pretty much already up 20 points. It was more of an offensive role and this year I’ve stepped into a defensive role and kind of stepped into a leadership role since we lost that many seniors and we have so many young guys who haven’t played that many varsity minutes.”
The interesting part of Renfroe’s development is his change from a perimeter shooter to a defensive specialist. He averages 6.6 points per game but is surprisingly the second leading rebounder (7.1 per game) behind the 6-foot-6 Friendly.
“He does a lot of stuff for us that people won’t recognize all the time,” Arant said. “He’s our energy guy, he’s our glue guy. He does all the dirty work for us. He’s second on the team in rebounds and you wouldn’t think that. He typically guards the other team’s best perimeter player. He plays hard every second he’s on the floor and he’s just somebody the rest of our guys can get behind.”
Renfroe doesn’t seem to mind the fact that others are doing the scoring.
“I’m not the number one option any more and I’m perfectly fine with that,” Renfroe said. “Mason, a really young guard, can pretty much get to the rack whenever he wants, Braden is always knocking them down and Jarrett is always big, so whenever you have those three guys as offensive scorers, Coach says let the game flow to you and that’s what I’ve been doing on offense.
“I think you can help the team out in other ways. Rebounding and effort is a crucial part of that. Diving on the floor (for loose balls) is the difference in many games. Like my dad always said, the little things. That’s really all it is, trying to do the little things right.”
The Eagles will be making their third consecutive trip to the regionals on Wednesday. Last year, Montgomery Academy defeated Hale County in the semifinals and Lee-Scott Academy in the regional finals. This year, the Eagles will play Lee-Scott in the semifinals on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Should they win, they likely will face Hale County in the regional finals.
“I think this journey is going to be a lot harder than it was last year,” Renfroe said. “Not only did we lose a lot of the depth we had last year -- so we have a shorter rotation -- but also the two teams that we might play in the next two games, we knocked them both out last year so they both want to get back at us. I think we’re going to have an even bigger target on our backs and we just need to be ready for it.”
Marbury 83, Valley 66
MARBURY -- Jalen Hall’s 23 points led four players in double figures as the Bulldogs advanced to regional play for only the second time in school history with an 83-66 win over Valley in a 5A sub-regional game in the Marbury gym on Saturday night.
Marbury (21-10) advances to the Central Regional at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome, where they’ll face Central-Clay County on Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
Hall had a double double in the game, pulling down 14 rebounds with his 23 points while recording three steals and two blocked shots. Noah Trotter added 19 points, three assists, seven steals and three blocked shots, Jamar Brown had 15 points, five rebounds, seven assists, three steals and a blocked shot and Aden Burdette had 12 points, two rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block. D’Anthony Smith had seven points and four rebounds.
The Bulldogs have been in the sub-regional round 11 times since the format was adopted in 1994, including the last eight years, but have only advanced to the regional once before Saturday’s win, defeating Demopolis in 2020. The Bulldogs advanced to the regional semifinals and were defeated by LeFlore.