It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

By David Morrison
High School Sports Reporter
Published: February 19, 2009

I’m sure images like the one above are familiar to basically everyone by now. And I’m sure you’ve all been informed ad nauseam of the vagaries of high-school basketball players by message boards, sports blogs and experts on CNN.

Let’s take a step back, though, and call this what it was: an isolated incident. Yeah, it started with the players on the floor, and yeah, it went nuts, but this is by no means a reflection of Valley, Carver, athletes, basketball players, or Alabamians as a whole. At no point while I was standing on press row and watching isolated skirmishes break out (literally) all around me was I shaking my head and thinking, “Man, this is just another sign that basketball players are a bunch of thugs.“ I was thinking, “Man, it’s a shame what happens sometimes when people go a little bit crazy.“

Read more about the fight here, and read more about the aftermath (which is still far from over) here.

Also, the AHSAA made the absolute right decision. There is no way to separate culpability based on which side was involved more, because both sides were complicit. And, knowing what I know of Steve Savarese these immediate sanctions will be the least of the schools’ worries. The man was a head high school football coach for 23 years. He understands what it takes to get through to high school athletes, and he and the board will come up with something that is fittingly punitive while also being instructive against future incidents. At least this is my hope…

Now, let’s talk about some basketball shall we?

Smiths Station’s girls and Central’s boys moved on in the South Regional at Troy yesterday, while Loachapoka’s boys cruised to the 1A final in the Central Region at ASU.

Smiths’ girls nearly blew a 21-point lead, but held on to beat Robertsdale, 53-49. Erika Jones was a monster for them, scoring 29 points and grabbing 20 rebounds. She had a double-double less than 10 minutes into the game, netting a 3-pointer with 6:10 to go in the first half to give her 12 points and 10 boards. Vannessa Peterson also must have done her boxing-out drills last week, because she pulled down 19 rebounds to go along with her 8 points. Jones and Peterson by themselves outrebounded the Bears by five. And the Panthers won with leading scorer DeJah Heard hampered by foul trouble and an off shooting night. She scored only 7 points, all on free throws.

Central’s boys also seemed destined to give their game away to Daphne, squandering an 8-point, third-quarter lead and trailing by as much as 5 with 3:10 to go. Then Darren Daniel kind of took over. He hit a 3 on one possession, then drove into the lane, drew contact (but no foul) and maintained his balance to hit a short jumper in the lane and tie the game up. Then, he made the two free throws on a one-and-one that proved to be the clinchers in the 47-45 win. And Joseph Thompson’s block on an open 3-pointer with less than three seconds to go might have saved Central’s season. Red Devils coach Bobby Wright said Thompson has been a “giant” for them. He meant literally his height (6-foot-4), because Wright said he is used to so many shorter players at Central. But I think he also meant in the figurative sense. Thompson is the Red Devils’ interior defense. And he plays a lot bigger than 6-4 out there.

Poka’s boys were in a tight game with Holy Spirit. For about five minutes. Then the Indians went on a 30-3 run to put them up 38-11 at the beginning of the third quarter. The Titans could not match the Indians’ size. Tommy White pulled a Joseph Thompson out there and played well above his 6-foot-1 frame, going for 23 points and 10 rebounds. I didn’t get a look at their region final opponent, Talladega County Central, but from the way they played yesterday, the Indians could be Birmingham bound.

And, Trez Hutchinson, if you’re reading this, I’ll get that certificate mailed to you as soon as I can.

UPDATE: I was just perusing my ASWA 1A boys state rankings and it turns out Talladega County Central is the No. 1 team in the state. So, Poka might have its work cut out for it…