By Gary Lloyd
The last time the Pinson Valley boys’ basketball team won an area tournament, senior guard Marcus Merriweather was in grade school.
On Monday night at Center Point, Merriweather was leading Pinson Valley to the title.
Pinson Valley gutted out a 57-56 thriller of a win over rival Center Point, earning the Class 5A, Area 11 championship.
Merriweather, the tournament MVP, split a pair of free throws with :16 to play, and Center Point’s Darreyl Purnell missed a fadeaway heave at the buzzer. All five Pinson Valley starters — Merriweather, Zach Jackson, Johnathan Marable, Devin Gary and Kerry Griffith — were named to the all-tournament team.
“I told these guys, ‘If you keep believing, you keep working, you keep fighting, it’ll work out in our favor in the end,’” said Pinson Valley head coach Clint Argo. “Tonight, they never gave up. They never gave up.”
Merriweather, Marable and Jackson were named to the regular season’s all-area team.
Pinson Valley (18-11) will host Ramsay on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Class 5A Northeast Sub-Regional game.
The Clay-Chalkville boys’ basketball team also won in a tight game, defeating Oxford 58-57 to claim the Class 6A, Area 9 tournament title. Senior Marcus Baldwin scored 19 points and was named tournament MVP. Clay-Chalkville (23-6) will host Grissom on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Class 6A Northeast Sub-Regional.
The Pinson Valley girls’ basketball team fell 56-30 to No. 2 Center Point in Monday’s area title game. Alex Lowery led Pinson Valley with 14 points and seven rebounds. Named to the all-tournament team were Lowery, Kari McAdoo and Nia Gray. Maralie McKinney, McAdoo and Destini McKinney were named to the regular season’s all-area team. Pinson Valley will play at Ramsay (21-7) on Thursday in the Northeast Sub-Regional.
The Hewitt-Trussville girls’ basketball team finished second in the Class 6A, Area 12 tournament, losing the championship game 41-13 to Gardendale. Dee Dee Jones and Cayla Dillard were named to the all-area team. Hewitt-Trussville (10-21) will play at No. 2 Shades Valley (29-1) in the Northeast Sub-Regional on Thursday.
The Hewitt-Trussville boys’ basketball team lost its only game in the Class 6A, Area 12 tournament to Carver, 58-55. The Huskies lost to Carver on a buzzer-beater 3-point shot
. Junior guard Jarvis Calhoun scored 26 points for Hewitt-Trussville. Calhoun and senior Matt Duffett were named to the all-area team.
The Clay-Chalkville girls’ basketball team also lost its only game in the Class 6A, Area 9 tournament to Oxford, 40-39. The girls finished the season with 25 wins and just four losses.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.