BY TIM GAYLE
SPORTS – SPECIALTO THE EAN
Top Photo: Joshua Palmer with lay up.
PRATTVILLE — The Autauga Academy football team is a hard act to follow, but the boy’s basketball team is making a run at it.
The Generals’ football team finished the 2021 season unbeaten at 13-0 after winning the Class AA state championship. The basketball team finished the 2022 regular season unbeaten at 15-0 and is just three wins away from duplicating the football team’s performance.
But as the basketball team has found out so many times in the last few years, those last few steps are the hardest.
Autauga has reached the semifinals in each of the last seven years, including last year, a stretch that includes four consecutive runner-up finishes prior to last season.
“It’s going to be something we’re going to have to do,” Autauga coach William Turner said. “We’ve got to do it this year and get the proverbial monkey off our backs because we’ve been the team that has competed every year, just couldn’t quite get over the top.
“But it’s about defense. There’s an old cliche ‘defense wins championships,’ but they’ve bought in and you can recognize it in our days where we go 3 of 24 from the 3-point line but are still winning those games by 30 points because the other team simply isn’t scoring.”
Autauga opens play in the AA state tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against Lowndes on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
The Generals have done it with returning talent, an infusion of new talent that includes high-scoring guard Robert Rose and a new coach in Turner, a former assistant who waited his turn.
“It’s probably about where I thought we would be,” Turner said. “I’m not sure we’d be completely undefeated. That’s a shock, to be the only undefeated boys’ team left in the state, but I knew the talent we would have.
“We had AJ (Perry) coming back, who was a really talented player on last year’s team; Josh Palmer coming back, who was a very talented player on last year’s team; and Deuhn (Carroll) is back. You put the two guards on there with the rest of the talent we had and I knew we had the chance to be really special.”
They have been to this point, reeling off 15 wins that includes a tough battle at home in the last week of the regular season to defending AAA state champion Pike Liberal Arts.
“It’s very special where we’re at, but without the coaches it wouldn’t be like this, getting all the pieces they needed to put us where we needed to be at and all the players jelling in,” Rose said. “It was rough at the beginning but we started getting along with each other and during the practices we had. Jelling together really brought everybody together. Playing in the game, getting our chemistry together, really got us where we are today.”
Turner doesn’t take much credit. He insists the team chemistry was built during the football season.
“It’s about the kids,” he said. “That bonding experience had already happened so I was kind of in a luxurious position. It kind of carried over into basketball season, their love for each other, their pushing each other and holding each other accountable.”
But while Rose is a prolific scorer with the ball in his hands, the Generals’ senior floor leader, taking a cue from his coach, credits his team’s defense for Autauga’s success.
“We like to push the pace, get up and down the floor,” Rose said. “We’re athletes and defense is where it starts. Defense is our main purpose because without defense, we’re never going to win the game.”
This is Rose’s first year on the team, but he’s heard of Autauga’s past struggles in the state tournament.
“Nobody can stop us with our defense,” he said. “Bringing a state championship home to Autauga Academy will be very special.”
But the past runner-up finishes won’t make a championship in basketball more special than one in football, he said.
“Just winning is special,” he said. “A state championship is the biggest stage in any high school moment.”
BASKETBALL ACTION ROUNDUP –
AISA STATE TOURNAMENT
GIRLS
First Round
CLASS A
Heritage Christian 37, Coosa Valley 16
Snook 40, Crenshaw Christian 18
Abbeville Christian 59, Meadowview Christian 25
Banks Academy 35, North River Christian 25
CLASS AA
Southern Academy 47, Wilcox Academy 35
Hooper Academy 58, Macon East Academy 28
Lakeside School 44, Cornerstone Christian 16
Lowndes Academy 45, Patrician Academy 17
CLASS AAA
Monroe Academy 45, Bessemer Academy 25
Clarke Prep School 43, Russell Christian 10
Quarterfinals
Multiplex at Cramton Bowl
CLASS A
Tuesday
Evangel Christian vs. Heritage Christian, 9 a.m.
Restoration Academy vs. Snook Christian, noon
Pickens Academy vs. Abbeville Christian, 3 p.m.
Jackson Academy vs. Banks Academy, 6 p.m.
Friday
Semifinals, 9 a.m. and noon
Saturday
Finals, 5 p.m.
CLASS AA
Wednesday
Chambers Academy vs. Southern Academy, 9 a.m.
Sparta Academy vs. Hooper Academy, noon
South Choctaw Academy vs. Lakeside School, 3 p.m.
Edgewood Academy vs. Lowndes Academy, 6 p.m.
Friday
Semifinals, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Monday
Finals, noon
CLASS AAA
Thursday
Glenwood School vs. Monroe Academy, 9 a.m.
Fort Dale Academy vs. Springwood School, noon
Tuscaloosa Academy vs. Lee-Scott Academy, 3 p.m.
Pike Liberal Arts vs. Clarke Prep School, 6 p.m.
Saturday
Semifinals, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Monday
Finals, 5 p.m.
BOYS
First Round
CLASS A
Banks Academy 48, Pickens Academy 40
Meadowview Christian 48, Crenshaw Christian 43
Abbeville Christian 70, Snook Christian 43
Coosa Valley Academy 54, North River Christian 42
CLASS AA
Wilcox Academy 105, Southern Academy 45
Edgewood Academy 58, Lakeside School 26
Macon East Academy 84, Cornerstone Christian 65
Lowndes Academy 70, South Choctaw Academy 18
CLASS AAA
Bessemer Academy 66, Clarke Prep School 48
Valiant Cross 60, Springwood School 53
Monroe Academy 59, Russell Christian 30
Quarterfinals
Multiplex at Cramton Bowl
CLASS A
Tuesday
Evangel Christian vs. Banks Academy, 10:30 a.m.
Restoration Academy vs. Meadowview Christian, 1:30 p.m.
Heritage Christian vs. Abbeville Christian, 4:30 p.m.
Jackson Academy vs. Coosa Valley Academy, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
Semifinals, 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Saturday
Finals, 7 p.m.
CLASS AA
Wednesday
Chambers Academy vs. Wilcox Academy, Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.
Escambia Academy vs. Edgewood Academy, 1:30 p.m.
Patrician Academy vs. Macon East Academy, 4:30 p.m.
Autauga Academy vs. Lowndes Academy, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
Semifinals, 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Finals, 2 p.m.
CLASS AAA
Thursday
Lee-Scott Academy vs. Bessemer Academy, 10:30 a.m.
Morgan Academy vs. Valiant Cross, 1:30 p.m.
Tuscaloosa Academy vs. Glenwood School, 4:30 p.m.
Pike Liberal Arts vs. Monroe Academy, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Semifinals, 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Monday
Finals, 7 p.m.
