By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
MOODY – Valentine’s Day 2023 will go down in the history books in Moody, Alabama for their boys basketball team as they reached the AHSAA Regional Semi-Final round of the playoffs for the first time in school history. This means that Moody is one of the sixteen best teams in 5A basketball in Alabama. It took “bonus basketball” known to most as overtime, but the Blue Devils punched their ticket to the sweet sixteen with a 68-65 win over Alexandria.
Both teams had a pretty good offensive showing in the first quarter with Alexandria putting up 15 on Moody’s defense. The Blue Devils would come up just one point short of the Valley Cubs, scoring 14 of their own. Leading Moody would be Kolby Seymour, who hit 2 three-pointers in the period, followed by 5 points from Davion Dozier.
The second quarter would be a bit more lopsided as the Blue Devils would put up 20 points in the period to Alexandria’s 10. Dozier and Blaine Burke would have 8 points each to lead the Blue Devils in scoring for the second quarter, sending them into the halftime break with a 34-25 lead over the Valley Cubs.
After the break, Alexandria would tighten up on the defensive side of the ball, holding Moody to 12 points in the third. The Valley Cubs would counter with 18 points of their own to narrow the lead to just 3. Seymour and Carson Dillashaw would lead the Blue Devils with 4 points each in the period. Moody would head into the fourth quarter with a narrow 46-43 lead over Alexandria.
In the fourth quarter, Moody would be unable to put the game away and Alexandria was looking for a big comeback win over the Blue Devils. Alexandria would get 13 points in the quarter to Moody’s 10, ending regulation with the teams knotted at 56 apiece. In the quarter, Seymour would lead Moody with 6 points and Dillashaw would add 4.
The overtime period was a dog fight, with Moody outscoring Alexandria 12-9 but it was not without some drama. Dozier led the Blue Devils in scoring for the period but it was last-minute heroics by Dillashaw that sealed the deal. “Dilly,” playing with four fouls in overtime, blocked a shot by Alexandria’s Quendavion McDowell and made his way to the other end of the court to sink the final bucket of the game, giving Moody the 68-65 victory that would send them to the sweet sixteen.
Davion Dozier would lead Moody in scoring with 21 points on the night, followed closely by Kolby Seymour with 18. Carson Dillashaw would have 14 points for Moody and Blaine Burke would end the night with 8.
“I’m really proud of our guys for finding a way to win,” said Moody Coach Chad Bates. “Alexandria battled the whole game. This was a total team win. Davion, Kolby and Carson carried us a lot of the game. Blaine gave us good spark off the bench in the second quarter. I can’t say enough about our guys’ relentless effort to get us to Jacksonville.”
The Blue Devils’ season continues Friday as they will take on Guntersville at Jacksonville State University at 1:30 pm.