By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE – As the old saying goes, winning cures all. The Hewitt Trussville Huskies have shown signs of sheer greatness this year at times. At other times, they have had a hard time finishing games. Reeling from a heartbreaking loss to Oak Mountain on Tuesday night, the Huskies welcomed seventh-ranked Spain Park to The Bank on Friday night in their final area game of the season.
The last time these two met, Spain Park put a 56-36 spanking on the Huskies so you can imagine that revenge was on the minds of these wounded dogs Friday night and they got that revenge on their home court.
“What a night to be a Husky,” said Hewitt Coach Jeremy Monceaux. “Really good win as we continue to work to build the program here.”
It didn’t start quite the way Coach Monceaux would have liked for it to. On the defensive side of the ball, Hewitt allowed the Jaguars to put up 14 points while only scoring 7 on the offensive side of the ball. Ray Rolley would get his awesome night started, scoring 5 of those 7 points in the first quarter.
In the second, the defense put the clamps down and held Spain Park to just 2 points. The Hewitt offense was still sputtering though, scoring just 8 points but it was enough to close the gap to just one point. Rolley would have another 2 points in the quarter to go with 3 each from Seneca Brown and Emeka Anwah. The Jaguars would hold a 16-15 lead heading into the break.
The heavyweight battle continued into the third quarter as the Huskies and Jaguars continued to battle it out. Hewitt would edge out Spain Park in the quarter 13-10 and get a lead for the first time of the night. Rolley would continue his stellar night with 6 points paired with 5 from Legion Gaston to put the Huskies up by just 2, 28-26, heading into the final period of the game.
As if the first three quarters were not exciting enough, these two teams put on a showcase of effort and grit in the fourth quarter and both left it all on the court. The game went back and forth and ended with both teams scoring 14 points in the frame. The most exciting points coming in the final seconds from…you guessed it…Ray Rolley. After Spain Park went up by one point, 40-39, the Huskies had just 12 seconds to inbound the ball and get down the court to score. After the inbound, Reid Stodghill brought the ball across mid court and passed it to Rolley. Rolley drove the lane and hit a layup that put the Huskies up by one. He was also fouled and went to the line for the and-one and he hit that as well, putting the Huskies up 42-40 to end the game and get his team back on the winning side of things.
“Ray Rolley was an absolute stud tonight for us,” said Coach Monceaux. “20 points and 4 assists and every time we needed a play he made one for us. I think he is the most underrated player in Birmingham. For him to have this moment, in this game, in this kind of environment just makes me happy. He has earned it.”
Rolley led all scorers with 20 points followed by Emeka Anwah with 8 and Legion Gaston with 7.
“Coach Laatsch has built Spain Park into a first class program that has been a mainstay at the top of high school basketball the last 5 years in Alabama,” said Coach Monceaux of his opponent. “For us to have an environment like we did in Bryant Bank Arena tonight and for our players to compete like they did against a high level opponent, I hope is a sign of things to come here. Hopefully this win will give us the confidence that we are good enough to play with anyone on any night. A lot of basketball left to play and we are excited to do everything we can to finish this season strong.”
The Huskies improve to 18-9 over all and 3-3 in area play with a trip to Mountain Brook coming up Tuesday night.