By Loyd McIntosh, For The Tribune
PELL CITY — The Shades Valley Mounties fell behind early, scrambled back to take the lead, but in the end fell short to the Pell City Panthers Tuesday night, listing by 10 points, 60-50.
Shades Valley made the trip down I-20 sporting an overall record of 8-8, 1-0 in 6A Area 10 play following a victory over Woodlawn on Friday. The Mounties’ opponent, Pell City, has gotten off to a good start in the 2022-23 season with an overall record of 9-3, and also 1-0 in area competition.
The Mounties found themselves in a hole early in the contest as the Panthers got off to red hot start jumping out to an 8-0 lead after just two minutes of play in the opening quarter. Junior forward Ethan Johnson finally got Shades Valley on the scoreboard after hitting one of two free throws with just over five-and-a-half minutes to play in the first period.
Shades Valley’s shooters struggled to find their rhythm from the perimeter while Pell City’s big 6-5 center Michael Snow commanded a huge presence in the lane as the quarter came to a close with the Mounties down 10, 19-9.
The Mounties settled down offensively in the second quarter and put more pressure on Pell City on defense, going on a 5-2 run to start the second period. Throughout the remainder of the first half, the Mounties played scrappy defense and created decent looks to chip away at the lead.
Johnson, who was active on the boards all night, put back a key offensive rebound to pull the Mounties to within four points midway through the second quarter, 21-17. After several minutes of frantic back-and-forth action, Jeremiah Williams sank a huge three-pointer to close the gap to Pell City to two points, 25-23, with 2:30 to play in the half.
Shades Valley had a chance to tie the game as senior Jaden Coleman’s driving layup just wouldn’t fall at the buzzer. Pell City took a slim two-point lead into the locker room, 29-27 at the half.
The Panthers and Mounties traded three-pointers to open the third quarter, however, Shades Valley stepped up the defensive pressure forcing turnovers and bad shots early in the second half.
With just under six minutes to play in the third quarter, Johnson hit on a pin move under the hoop to give Shades Valley its first lead of the game, 34-32. Williams extended the Mounties’ lead to four points with another three-pointer with just over two-and-a-half to play in the third, 42-38. However, turnovers and creative offense gave Pell City a two-point lead at the end of the third quarter, 44-42.
Shades Valley hit a free throw early in the fourth to pull to within one point then Pell City adopted a different strategy, slowing things down on offense. The Panthers chose to pass the ball around the perimeter without attempting a shot for more than two minutes.
Pell City guard Collin McCombs finally broke the game’s scoring drought with a three-pointer, pushing the Panthers’ lead to four points, 47-43. During Shade’s Valley’s next possession, Pell City’s Jackson Burkhalter came with a huge block leading to a key layup on the ensuing transition to extend the lead to six points, 49-43.
At this point, the Mounties’ comeback effort ran out of gas, as Pell City pulled away to win by ten points, 60-50.
Senior Kendarvis Irvin led the Mounties with 14 points, followed closely by Williams with 13 points. Pell City junior Caleb Groce led all scorers with 23 points.
Shades Valley Head Coach Audwin Howard said the loss is a tough one to swallow considering his Mounties squad had a chance to put the Panthers away, however, turnovers, missed assignments on defense, and shots that just wouldn’t fall gave Pell City life and, eventually, the victory.
“We had them on the ropes. We came and did some good things offensively, we changed some things up on defense and we just fell asleep in the end,” said Audwin Howard.
“We shoot ourselves in the foot. We have to wait to get punched in the mouth before we respond, then we come out and play,” he added. “But we exert so much energy trying to come back that we’re in a dog fight and we get guys in foul trouble and some guys are tired. It’s just one of those things where we just have to learn and grow up real fast.”
Shades Valley will travel to Mountain Brook (13-6, 1-0) on Friday, January 13.