Montgomery Academy celebrates '25 title, follows up with win over Trinity
Montgomery Academy’s Caleb Miles goes up against Jake Wilson of Trinity in the Eagles’ win over the Wildcats on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
At halftime of the girls’ game, the 2025 Class 3A state champion Montgomery Academy boys’ basketball team was honored at Joe Mooty Court.
Many of those same players took the court about 45 minutes later and resumed their quest to repeat as state champions, pounding Trinity 67-36 in the annual “Coaches vs. Cancer” game between the two teams.
The Wildcats battled Montgomery Academy evenly for a quarter, trailing just 13-10, but couldn’t keep pace as the Eagles extended the lead to 30-16 at the half and to 20 points in the third quarter.
“We understand the margins are thin,” Trinity coach Matt Arrighi said. “These games, we believe, are winnable for us but there are certain things you’ve got to do and we talked about them before the game. Obviously, ball security is one of them. And rebounding. You don’t want them to get shots direct at the rim, which come off of live ball turnovers and offensive rebounds at the glass. We held our own early. We thought we did a good job in the first half of getting pretty good looks.
“In the second half, you give up a few offensive rebounds, a couple of turnovers and then the guys just get deflated. It can snowball on you pretty quick and I thought that happened tonight.”
Montgomery Academy won its 10th consecutive game on Thursday, but the Eagles continued to apply defensive pressure long after the outcome was decided, working on themselves in an effort to build a championship-caliber squad.
“We’ve got some rotation problems in our defense,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said. “We’ve got some stuff we’re trying to get cleaned up and work on.”
Braden Gordon led the Eagles with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots, followed by Mason Ellis with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals and Jarrett Friendly with 12 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocked shots. Caleb Myles and Blake Parnell each added eight points. Myles also had eight rebounds and two steals while Parnell added two rebounds. JayJay Jackson chipped in seven points and grabbed four rebounds.
Despite the lopsided win, both coaches were happy to play the annual “Coaches vs. Cancer” game in front of a packed house.
“It’s a great thing,” Arant said. “We were able to have (tennis) coach David Bethea come and talk to our team beforehand about how events like this are able to help people affected by cancer. We’re trying to get our kids to understand there are other things in the world and people are going through a lot of things and you can make an impact.”
“I have to remind myself all the time that this game is bigger than me and my current team,” Arrighi said. ‘“Coaches vs. Cancer’ has been around a long time. Tonight’s game is a good reminder that we’re just playing a game and there’s real life heartache and hardship going on, even from people who are in the stands that are affected by cancer.”
Montgomery Academy (18-5) will travel to Thorsby on Friday with a chance to wrap up home court advantage for the upcoming area tournament, while Trinity (8-13) lost for the eighth time in the last nine games and will return home to play Booker T. Washington in an area game on Tuesday.
Montgomery Academy’s Bailey Davis gets off a shot in the lane during Trinity’s close win over the Eagles on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
Trinity girls 42, Montgomery Academy 39
It’s been five years since the Montgomery Academy girls have played a competitive game with Trinity.
The Eagles, perennial state championship contenders in 2021, lost in the regional finals and haven’t been the same since. The Wildcats, which lost in the 2021 area tournament, filled the void in the years since with three consecutive state titles, flipping the script on the series.
On Thursday, the Eagles stood toe to toe with Trinity in the annual “Coaches vs. Cancer” game at Joe Mooty Court. A Bailey Davis 3-point attempt bounced off the iron in the final seconds, allowing Trinity to escape with a 42-39 win.
“I can’t be more proud of our girls across the board,” Montgomery Academy coach Wright Ward said. “Bench energy was awesome all night, what was on the floor was fantastic. The effort is there every single time, but defensively I think we might have been more locked in tonight against a really good team than we have been all season.
“All you ask for is the opportunity. We had an opportunity at the end. We got a great look from someone we want shooting it and it didn’t fall. You can’t ask for more. I think this game can boost a program’s confidence when you look at the last four or five years with what’s happened against Trinity.”
The early stages of the game looked like any other recent meeting between the two as Trinity climbed out to an early lead, but the Eagles battled back to trim the deficit to a point before another Trinity run put the Wildcats up 26-15 at the break.
While Montgomery Academy’s intensity on the defensive end of the floor helped the Eagles force 20 turnovers, they were aided by a poor shooting performance by Trinity. Two days after Emory Causey, Ellie Causey and Lizzy Causey combined for 16 3-pointers, the Wildcats made just three 3-pointers against the Eagles.
“We know that about us,” Trinity coach Blake Smith said. “We have depended a lot on the 3-point shot. Now we have done some stuff to try and create easier baskets and I’m going to be honest, we did tonight. And had we not done that, they would have won. Had we not grown in that area, they would have beaten us tonight because it was not going to go in from the outside.”