By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
Fort Payne – Coach Jeremy Monceaux took his red-hot Hewitt Trussville Huskies to Fort Payne, Alabama to take on the top-ten ranked Jasper Vikings during the New Year’s holiday and walked away with a hard-fought win in overtime.
Hewitt jumped out to an 6-point lead in the first quarter, holding the Vikings to just 5 points while scoring 11 of their own. Karnell Smith wasted zero time, scoring 6 of the 11 points for the Huskies in the quarter.
The second quarter got more players involved in the scoring for the Huskies as 5 different players lit up the scoreboard for 18 points for the visitors. The defense continued to play dominant basketball, holding Jasper to just 9 points in the period. Ray Rolley had 6 points while Braxton Brown added another 5. The Huskies would take a 29-14 lead into the locker room.
The Hewitt offense would continue to put up good numbers in the third, but Jasper would come out of the locker room with a comeback on their mind. Behind 8 points from Reid Stodghill, the Huskies would put up 15. Jasper would put up 22 points to outscore the Huskies, led by John Bryant Beaty’s 4-4 from behind the three-point line, closing the gap to 44-36 Huskies headed into the fourth.
Jasper would continue that momentum and their defense would wake up and hold Hewitt to just 7 points while scoring 15 of their own to force overtime. Hewitt was led by Stodghill, who scored 5 points in the quarter.
In overtime, the Huskies defense came alive again, allowing just 5 points from the hot hands of the Jasper Vikings. Though not as effective as they were earlier on, the Huskies offense did enough to get the win, fighting hard and scoring 9 points to get the win for the visiting team. Smith had another 4 points to lead the Huskies in the extra period.
“I thought our kids showed a lot of competitive maturity in the game,” said Hewitt Coach Jeremy Monceaux. “We played really well early which allowed us to get a big lead. But Jasper is a solid team and hit some tough shots in the second half which allowed them to close the gap. Down the stretch, when things were not going well, we had a few guys really step up and make plays on both ends, which was good to see.”
The win improves the Huskies to 13-5 on the year with a game against Columbia (GA) Friday.
