By Kyle Parmley
MOUNTAIN BROOK — Hewitt-Trussville had no answer for Class 7A third-ranked Mountain Brook’s full-court press defense, as the Spartans downed the Huskies 71-34 on Friday at Spartan Arena, in the final Area 6 game of the regular season for both teams.
The Spartans blitzed the Huskies with a 9-0 run and a swarming defense to start the game, and never allowed Hewitt-Trussville to get close in a dominant first two quarters.
“They do a great, great job of pressuring the ball. They put relentless pressure on the ball. You have to get the ball up the floor quickly,” head coach Mike Dutton said.
Hewitt-Trussville was unable to establish any rhythm on offense, as Mountain Brook’s defense forced 21 turnovers in the first half. The Huskies tried several different offenses in an attempt to crack the Spartan press, but all of them proved unsuccessful.
“I thought we were well-prepared for the press when we came into the game,” Dutton said. “Obviously, it didn’t work.”
Freshman Sean Elmore is proving to be a budding star for the Husky program, as he scored a team-high 14 points, with nine coming in a quick spurt right out of the halftime break. In the third quarter alone, he hit three runners in the lane, while being fouled on one of them.
Matt Hicks knocked down a pair of deep threes as part of his eight points on the night. Backup point guard Sam Frazier showed up in the box score as well, knocking down a three in the fourth quarter. Oddly enough, Frazier also led the team with six rebounds.
The strangest scene of the night came with Hewitt-Trussville attempting to hold the ball for the final shot of the third quarter. All five Huskies lined up next to each other near the sideline, facing their bench. They passed the ball in and tossed it down the line, back and forth several times. This ensured there could be no five-second violation, and as Dutton adamantly pointed out, any Mountain Brook player that attempted to run out of bounds to steal the ball should be administered a technical foul. Once the line broke, an errant Husky pass went out of bounds, defeating the purpose of the play.
Mountain Brook had three players explode for double-digit points in the opening half. Standout junior Jack Kline poured in 17 points and five rebounds during that span, including a triple from the top of the key. Terrell Guy added 11 points in the first half on 7-of-8 shooting from the free throw line, and finished with 17 points on the night. Jared Henderson knocked down the first two shots of the game for the Spartans, a pair of 3-pointers, and had all of his 12 points in the first two quarters.
Hewitt-Trussville will face off against the other two schools in the Tribune coverage area next week, as the Huskies take on Clay-Chalkville (twice) and Pinson Valley before moving on to the area tournament. The host of the Area 6 tournament will be decided by a coin flip between Mountain Brook and Spain Park.
“We are trying to get better every game to improve as a team,” Dutton said. “We are going to try to be better against Clay than we were tonight.”
The Huskies will travel to face crosstown rival Clay-Chalkville on Monday night. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.