BY TIM GAYLE
SPECIAL TO THE EAN
TOP PHOTO: Catholic’s Ethan Binns trapped by Autaugaville players Ladarrien Golson, Jamarcus Golson (11)
Jaden Nixon single-handedly shot Catholic out of the gym in the first quarter and Ladarrien Golson finished off the Knights late as Autaugaville handed Catholic its first loss of the season in a 63-43 win in the Catholic gym on Tuesday night.
The defending 1A state champions (9-2) hit a lull in dropping two games in the Coach Larry Chapman Foundation Classic, but looked efficient on Tuesday, particularly when Nixon hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter to extend a 9-8 lead to 10 points.
“We’re blocking out a little better,” said Autaugaville coach Darren Golson, a major complaint when he lost two games in the Chapman tournament. “We’ve been working on that a lot. Today, it looked like they were doing it a little bit better. Sometimes we got a little lax, but if we’ll clean that up in the next two to three weeks, we can make a run.”
Catholic coach Mike Curry was impressed. At times, his team had the right position on the floor but still came up short on rebounding and putbacks.
“We’ve got work to do,” Curry said. “This is our fourth game. They’re a good team, though. They were better than us. They’re long. A lot of times, we were in the right place defensively or to rebound and they just jumped over the top of us. They’ve got a veteran ballclub. The only one they’re missing is the big kid (Dewaun Stubbs) from last year. We tried to throw different things at them (with defensive alignments), but they’re a good club. They’re better than us tonight and they’ll probably be better than us on a lot of nights.”
Nixon’s barrage staked the Eagles to a 10-point lead they maintained through the first half as Catholic continued to switch defenses to keep Autaugaville within striking distance. When the Eagles increased the lead midway through the third quarter, Catholic made one last one with some 3-pointers of its own to trim the deficit to 10 again, but the Eagles gradually extended the lead in the final period as Catholic’s shooting became more desperate.
The Knights (3-1) were without two of their top players on Tuesday. Point guard LJ Green sat on the end of the bench and continued to nurse an ankle injury, while power forward T.J. Dudley is in Mississippi participating in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic this weekend in Hattiesburg.
Autaugaville also played long stretches of the game without point guard Jermaine Sanders, who was slowed by a sprained foot.
“We’re going to be without him, so it’s going to be a whole lot tougher,” Golson said, indicating he may hold Sanders out of play through the remainder of the year to allow him time to heal.
Golson scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, while Nixon’s five 3-pointers in the first quarter and a basket in the second quarter accounted for all 17 of his points. Antonio Hardy added nine and Jamarcus Rose had eight.
For Catholic, Miles Hannah had 14 points with the help of four 3-pointers, along with four rebounds and four assists. Matthew Reardon hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 13 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots. Brennan Binns hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.
Autaugaville returns to action on Friday against Billingsley in the Autauga County Tournament at Prattville, while Catholic will face Cottage Hill Christian in a game at Garrett Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
