By Alex Headley
The Pinson Valley High School Indians basketball team is off to a promising start this season thanks in large part to senior Marcuc Merriweather. According to Head Coach Clint Argo, Merriweather is averaging 21 points a game.
“We haven’t had anyone average that high since Cody Clark,” Argo said.
Clark has since gone to play for Arkansas University and is a standout on the team.
Merriweather isn’t alone this season though; senior Jonathan Merribal is a stand-out, as well.
“He was a small role player last year, but this year he leads the team in double doubles,” Argo said. “He has had double digit rebounds every game.”
The Indians are 1-1 in area play at the moment and 8-4 in the overall season.
“We have been a little up and down so far, but we are starting to get better,” Argo said.
According to Argo, the team’s victory over Hewitt-Trussville last week was their best game.
“We shot like 48 percent,” Argo said. “We took some smart shots and that helped a lot. We are upping our shooting game a lot.”
The Indians beat the Huskies by 12 points.
“I’m hoping that we can keep playing like we have in the last couple of games,” Argo said. “We’ve been clicking. If we can continue that we will be fine. The sky is the limit if we can work together as a team.”
The team’s strong point is the offense and shooting game, but Argo said the team can improve defensively.
“We are picking up defensively, it’s gotten better,” he said. “We will keep working every day until it’s where it needs to be.”
In Other News
The Pinson Valley High School wrestling team won the annual Dora Duals wrestling tournament Saturday, defeating eight other teams from around Jefferson County. The Indians won it all and were undefeated for the tournament, beating Weaver High School 40-30 in the final round. The first annual Dora Duals was a nine team round robin match at Dora High School.
“We had to wrestle all eight other teams,” Gene Richardson, the team’s head coach said. “We went undefeated all day.”
At Dora, the Indians beat Clay-Chalkville 56-19, St. Clair County 48-29, Dora 63-6, Sumiton Christian 64-0, JB Pennington 75-0, Fultondale 64-18, and finally Weaver 40-30.
The Indians are currently 22-3 in the season with losses to Scottsboro, Hewitt-Trussville and Oak Mountain High Schools.
“Scottsboro was kind of our measuring stick,” Richardson said
. “Now, we know where we have to be for the season.”
The team will be attending a match at Buckhorn High School on Dec. 22 and then head to the Hayden Duals tournament after the holiday break.
According to Richardson, the team has several standout wrestlers this year. Hank Turner is currently 28-1 in the 126 pound weight class.
“He is quite good and will make some noise this year,” Richardson said of Turner. “We are a bit of a young team this year, but we made it to county last year and we have made Top 4 every meet.”
Seventeen-year-old Patrick Tinney, 106 pounds, is 19-3 at the moment and the team’s heavyweight. Junior Barrett Crossley, 285 pounds, is 20-3.