By Kyle Parmley
Sports Writer
TRUSSVILLE – Things got a little hairy towards the end.
After opening up a 10-point lead with a few minutes to play, Hewitt-Trussville allowed the final nine points of the game and held on for dear life to beat Pleasant Grove, 59-58, in the season opener on Tuesday night in Bryant Bank Arena.
Harlan Williams rimmed out on a 3-pointer as time expired and the Huskies took the win.
“Surreal,” Hewitt-Trussville interim head coach Marcus Thomas described the win as. “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. These guys have fought hard.
“What I was looking for was the effort. That has to be constant. We had a few letdowns, but take nothing away from Pleasant Grove. They came ready to play,” he said.
The Huskies took some ill-advised quick shots and committed a couple careless turnovers as the clock wound down, but they did just enough to preserve the win.
Thomas, just the head coach since September 28, took a tradition from John Brown University to kick off the new season
After a Grant Page jumper to give the Huskies a 2-1 edge, toilet paper rained onto the floor from a rather large and rowdy student section. The game was stopped and a technical foul assessed, but the consequence was worth the moment.
“Just to bring in the new year, 2015, and wipe away all the old,” Thomas said.
The atmosphere inside Bryant Bank Arena is just part of what makes Hewitt-Trussville a great place in Thomas’ eyes, and only helps in what he hopes to see from his team.
“This is what we want to do,” he said. “We aren’t the most athletic team. We’re not going to be the fastest team. We’re not going to be the strongest team. However, I think the guys are pretty doggone smart. If we work together, very good things can happen.”
The Huskies jumped out to a 20-11 lead after one quarter thanks to a bevy of energy. Hewitt-Trussville displayed excellent shot-making ability early and made several plays defensively to lead to offensive success.
Damon Harper drilled a pair of 3-point shots in that opening frame, and finished the night with six made to lead the team with 18 points. He played with the varsity squad sparingly towards the end of last season, but wasted no time announcing himself as a dynamic shooter in game one of his sophomore campaign.
At the half, Hewitt-Trussville led 36-26, and came out in the third quarter with the same energy. Junior guard Harrison Stanley scored all 11 of his points in the quarter, and the Huskies led 49-43 heading into the final quarter.
Junior Chris Lewis was in the same situation as Harper last season, playing the final few games with the varsity team. He made his presence known in a big way all night, crashing the boards with reckless abandon and finished with ten points.
Lewis was also involved in a scuffle in the third quarter, as Williams took exception to a foul against him and took a swing at Lewis. It was unclear if he landed a blow, but the incident riled up both benches, even as the officiating crew was oblivious to the fact that anything had occurred.
In any event, the Huskies improved to 1-0 to begin the season, impressing their head coach in the process.
“I’m excited for them. They deserve it. They put the work in during the summer. They dealt with a lot of adversity. It’s nothing I’ve done. This is their win. Any losses that they take, I’ll take, but this is their win,” Thomas said.
Thomas has also used a unique illustration to help his team understand the need to play together as a unit.
“We have to take that Husky, that pack mantra, and work together as a team. When you talk about a Husky, you talk about a sled dog. One Husky is not going to pull us. All of them working together as a team, they can do phenomenal things,” he said.
The current roster has had no shortage of ups and downs. A pair of losing seasons the last two years, three coaches in the same time span, and the trial of losing coach Jim Sanderson mere weeks before the season started are all events that could have forced the team to quit. But they have done just the opposite.
“I’ve been around and helping them out as much as possible,” girls head coach Tonya Hunter said. “Those guys have been through so much. They are buying in. This past week, this is the first time I have seen them locked in. They are actually locked in and focused. Thomas does a great job making them lock in every drill. That helps with their focus.”
Thomas has a positive spin to the situation, adding, “These guys have gone through several coaches. They may be the smartest players in the country right now, because they’ve had a lot of really good coaches.”
He has been a head coach at various stops in his career at Marion Military Institute, Delta State, and Mississippi Valley State, so Thomas has experience inheriting challenging situations. He knows exactly what he wants to see from his team as the year progresses.
“I don’t like the numbers game, because if you fall short of that you may think the year wasn’t a success. But I like to look at the process. I’m looking for them to start loving and enjoying the process,” he said.
The Huskies play their second contest of the season on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., inside Bryant Bank Arena.