Escambia Academy 56, Edgewood Academy 51
BY TIM GAYLE
SPORTS – SPECIAL TO THE EAN
Top Photo: Edgewood coach Darryl Free Talks with his Team.
They grew up in a hurry.
The Edgewood Academy boys’ basketball team, mired in a losing streak and in need of more points early in the season, was standing toe to toe with one of the most athletic teams in Class AA on Wednesday in the Alabama Independent School Association state tournament at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
The Wildcats had taken an early lead over Escambia Academy in Wednesday’s quarterfinal, survived a rally by the Cougars and were still battling back and forth for the lead in the 31st minute of the game. Finally, a turnover led to a quick Cougar basket, another turnover led to a foul and a pair of turnovers and the Cougars had escaped with a 56-51 win over the Wildcats.
Escambia (14-5) will play Chambers Academy in the AA semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Edgewood ends the season at 11-17.
Playing that close, only to lose, made the pain even worse.
“It is a heartbreaker, but I’m so proud of this group,” Edgewood Academy coach Darryl Free said. “This group, in November, doesn’t hang with that group like it did today. Not having a single senior, starting two eighth graders, the ceiling is high for this group. Does the loss hurt? Yeah, it hurts, but it also shows these boys they’re capable of playing with the best this league has to offer. Every other team in this state will, at the least, graduate one or two kids. We won’t. We’ll only get better as we move into next year.”
Edgewood’s Thomas Justiss drove the baseline for a reverse layup with 1:27 remaining to tie at 47-47 but the Cougars answered quickly as Brian Brown took a pass from Ja’Daniel Nettles with 1:09 remaining for an easy basket, then repeated the formula 18 seconds later following an Edgewood turnover for a 51-47 lead. The Cougars added two more points on a pair of Nettles’ free throws to finish off the Wildcats.
“We wanted to slow them down a little, because they do play fast and they’re very athletic,” Free said. “But I told (Edgewood’s players) that fundamentals can sometimes counter athleticism. We’ve played multiple teams this year that are very athletic but the game of basketball is a beautiful thing. There’s a lot to say for fundamentals. As long as we played fundamental basketball, I knew we’d have a chance.”
Austin Champion finished with 20 points to lead Edgewood, followed by Cooper Hall with 10, but Champion spent much of the fourth quarter with Nettles on his hip as the Cougars adjusted their defensive scheme to slow the Wildcats’ leading scorer.
“We kind of expected that,” Free said. “We prepared for that all week. We thought they would run that earlier in the game, actually, and they didn’t. So our guys stepped up. We were ready for it, so we adjusted and kept playing.”
Maliki Haynes led Escambia with 14 points, followed by Brown with 13, Landon Sims with 10 and Charlie Sasser with nine.
