By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
SPRINGVILLE — The Tigers have played Moody four times this season, and Saturday they made it a clean sweep, going 4-0 against their county rivals and claiming the St. Clair County Tournament championship with a 60-39 victory.
The first period was a back-and-forth affair as Carson Dillashaw stepped outside the arc and dropped a three-ball to give the Blue Devils (16-10) a 7-5 lead. But Derek Moore and Gavin Gooch scored twice in a row for the Tigers (18-4) to retake the lead before Davion Dozier tied it up on a drive into the lane.
Mason Trimm hit a three for the Blue Devils to make it 12-12 with two minutes to go in the first period, but that was the last gasp for Moody, as Springville scored on three consecutive trips up the floor, including a three-pointer by Garrett Howard to make it 17-12 at the end of the quarter.
The Tigers ran out to a 21-12 lead before Mason Myers went to the basket from the low blocks, scoring and drawing a foul.
Springville’s defense was especially frustrating for the Blue Devils, as the Tigers stayed in a press for most of the game.
“You’ve seen us play a lot. We don’t normally press the whole game like that,” said Tigers head coach Jeremy Monceaux during an interview following the game. “But this was the fourth time we’ve played them. I have a bunch of respect for their team, and I think we needed to do something to be the more energetic, aggressive team. The kids went hard and it worked to our advantage.”
The Tigers pride themselves on how they play defense, and here’s how potent that defense is: No Blue Devil scored in double figures. Trimm led Moody with 8, while Dozier and Dillashaw each had 7.
On their next three possessions, Springville went to senior Derek Moore, who scored each time he touched the ball. Moore had six in the quarter, and finished the game with 20 points, earning tournament MVP honors. At halftime, Springville led 32-19.
“They did a really good job with a kind of run-and-jump press on us and we didn’t pass it or shoot it well enough,” said Moody head coach Chad Bates. “They rotated really well, and they took it to us. We couldn’t stop Derek Moore on the inside, and they were making shots on the outside, and we weren’t. That made it extremely difficult.”
By the time the third quarter ended, Springville had stretched its lead to 20 points on the strength of back to back three-pointers by Cason Kersh and Amari Cowan. At the buzzer, it was 49-29.
But the story here was defense, with Kersh and Gooch especially annoying to their opponents in the press, double-teaming and forcing bad passes, challenging the Blue Devils each trip up the court.
“The first few games of the season, I started off scoring a good bit,” Gooch said afterward. “After that, it’s kind of become a defensive gameplan for me at least, more defense than offense. That’s how I help my team out, and on the offense score when I can and do the best to get the ball to my teammates, and that’s about it.”
Moore led all scorers with 20, while Gooch added 11 and Cowan scored 7 for the Tigers.