By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
PINSON – The Pinson Valley Indians continued their dominance of anyone they play against on Tuesday night by putting a Valentine’s Day spanking on the Hartselle Tigers to advance to the sweet sixteen in the AHSAA boys basketball playoffs. The 78-45 beating by the Indians improved them to 28-0, kept them ranked #1 in the state (regardless of classification) and moved them to 27th in the entire nation. This team is going to be hard to stop.
In the first quarter, a small flash of hope for the Tigers came in the form of a 3-0 run to start the game against Pinson. After that, all hope was lost, as Pinson went on a 16-0 run and never looked back. The Indians would just allow one more point in the quarter from the Tigers, stopping them at 4 points for the period. The Indians had 16 points in the quarter led by Caleb White and Clyde Walters who both had 5 points each.
In the second quarter, Hartselle would actually outscore the Indians by one point, scoring 17 against the Indians’ defense. Pinson would have another 16-point period against the Tigers. Terry Coner Jr. would lead the way for the Indians with 3 three-pointers for 9 points in the quarter. Ray McCants would add a three of his own to help his team go into the locker room with a 32-21 lead.
Coming out of the break, the Indians must have gotten an attitude adjustment during the break because they exploded on offense, scoring 28 points for the period. The defense was also on fire, holding the Tigers to just 12 points. Caleb White would hit 3 three-pointers in the period to lead the team with 9 points, followed closely by Coner who had 2 three’s of his own en route to a 8-point quarter. Pinson would head into the final stanza with a 60-33 lead and thoughts of the sweet sixteen on their minds.
Pinson would have, for them, a pretty quiet fourth quarter, scoring 15 points against Hartselle. The Tigers would manage another 12-point quarter and succumb to the mighty Indians in a game that was almost never close. In the fourth, Walters, Cameron Jennings and Jamison Green all hit three-pointers for the Indians.
For the game, 4 players finished in double digits in scoring for the Indians. Terry Coner led the way for the Indians with 18 points (5/5 from three-point land), 4 assists and 3 steals. Caleb White added 14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Clyde Walters had a great game, getting a double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Amari Bowens also had a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
“I liked our energy in the first quarter,” said Pinson Coach Darrell Barber. “We kind of let up in the second. In the third, we got back to doing things right on the defensive end. We did a great job of containing their top two players, #0 and #1 as well as everyone else. I knew coming in that they averaged 72 points per game. Clyde and Amari did a terrific job on the glass. We also hit 14 three-pointers on the night.”
The Indians look to keep that perfect record in tact as they head to Wallace State on Friday to take on Muscle Shoals at 10:30 am for a chance to make it to the Elite Eight in AHSAA Basketball.