DECATUR – After three physical quarters of back-and-forth basketball, the Hewitt-Trussville boys basketball lost their first game of the season to the Austin Black Bears Tuesday night, 49-42 in Decatur.
New Hewitt-Trussville Head Basketball Coach Jeremy Monceaux file photo (Photo by Zack Steele).
Hewitt (2-1) and Austin (1-2) traded leads throughout the early-season, non-conference contest. Austin held a slim lead, 22-20 at halftime, and maintained a two-point edge at the end of the third quarter. However, the Black Bears’ brand of physical play was too much as they pulled away in the fourth quarter to win their first game of the season.
“They were a physical team and over the course of the game just wore us down,” said Hewitt-Trussville head basketball coach Jeremy Monceaux. “We had our chances.”
In his first season as head coach, Jeremy Monceaux has the Hewitt basketball program moving in the right direction. The Huskies came into Tuesday’s road game having won their first two games of the year over Gadsden City and Park Crossing in Montgomery.
Against Austin, the Husky defense was solid but struggled to find the zone shooting. The Huskies were ten for 23 at the free throw line and sank only two of 16 three-point attempts.
“I thought we played pretty good defensively all night,” Monceaux said. “Any time we’re able to hold our opponents to under 50 points I think we have a great chance to win.
Down 39-38 late in the game, the Huskies had a chance to take the lead but missed three free throws and missed an open look at a three-pointer before running out of steam. Still, Hewitt’s defense kept them in the game and gave them a chance to earn their second road win of the young season.
“We could have laid down and died, that’s for sure,” Monceaux said.
Senior forward Emeka Anwah led the Huskies with 15 points and 11 rebounds while senior guard Ray Rolley chipped in with eight points on the night.
The Huskies will be on the road again on Thursday night to take on the winless Hueytown Golden Gophers. Hueytown is breaking in a new head coach, B. Branham Daniels, taking over for Heath Burns who moved on the Jasper following the 2021-22 season. Hueytown is 0-2 on the year with losses to Thompson, 73-46, and Wenonah, 74-58.
“They’re a very young team that has a new coach who is rebuilding the program,” said Monceaux.
“They’re a very guard-heavy team with three guards that are pretty talented, they just haven’t played a lot of varsity basketball yet,” Monceaux added. “Hopefully we can rebound from our loss to Austin tomorrow night.”
Originally scheduled as a neutral-site game in Birmingham, the contest will instead be played at Hueytown High School Thursday, November 17. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
