Story By John Mann
Despite a tough first quarter that saw them down by thirteen points the Guntersville Wildcats basketball team bounced back to a 68-60 win against East Limestone on Monday night at Wallace State to claim both the 5A Northwest Region Championship and a spot in next week’s Final Four game.
“These guys deserve it,” Wildcats head coach Brett Self said. “We work really, really hard, this was a great win against a really good team. We got down early; we never wavered and that’s been our MO all year. I think we played a tougher schedule that paid dividends but their hard work from the end of last season to where we are this season is the reason we won this game.”
Limestone came out hard against the Wildcats in the first quarter, immediately taking a 4-0 lead before a free throw by Grayson Moon was able to get the Wildcats on the board. Moon would sink a basket soon after, but Limestone kept up their assault and continued to push their lead further away. At the two minute mark they had gone up 18-5, but a basket by Turner Hammond and follow up free throw kept the Wildcats in the game 20-10 at the end of the first.
The Wildcats started to find their tempo in the second quarter, with Hudson Duvall taking the first basket to cut the Limestone lead to eight. Limestone would hit a three partway through the quarter, but Duvall was able to answer with one of his own to keep things at 28-20. That three would be the last score of the half for Limestone as the Wildcats kicked off an eleven point unanswered run that included the three by Duvall and another by Kobe Brothers, ending the half with the score tied at twenty-eight all.
Moon would lead the Wildcats in total scoring, racking up twenty points on the night, followed by Brothers with fourteen and Duvall with twelve. Moon and Turner, who had nine points, would both be named All-Region while Brothers would take home Tournament MVP. Despite being outscored by such a big margin in the first quarter, the Wildcats would manage to outpace Limestone in every other quarter on scores of 18-8, 20-13 and 20-19.
“Just tough, they’re tough,” Self said. “We don’t look like much when we get off the bus, we won’t pass the eye test but one through nine, Kalun (Cobb) being the tenth guy off from being injured, they’re just tough young men on and off the court. I told them we took their best punch in the first quarter; I told them we were gonna play better and they (Limestone) were gonna get tired and I thought they did. It was a testament to how hard we worked and it just goes back to our work ethic; we didn’t wake up today wanting to beat them we’ve been training for a year so that was the difference in tonight.”
The two teams would trade the lead to start off the third quarter, but at the five minute mark the Wildcats were able to take over the lead 36-35 on a basket and free throw by Turner and hold it for the rest of the game. Baskets by Westin Hammond and Rylan Wilson, along with two free throws by Brothers, pushed the score to 44-37 Wildcats, and with a last second basket by Westin the Wildcats headed into the final quarter leading 48-41.
Limestone was able to threaten the lead starting out the fourth quarter with four straight free throws, but a free throw shot by Moon and a basket by Westin kept the Wildcats on top 51-45. Limestone would threaten one more time with a three cutting the Wildcats lead to four at 58-54, but a three by Duvall and two free throws by Westin all but sealed the deal on the game. Leading by six with only seconds left in the game the Wildcats hit one last basket to take the 68-60 win and the Region Championship.
“We’re gonna keep working,” Turner said. “We’re gonna go this next week and we’re just gonna work our butts off, we have unfinished business and we’re gonna take care of it.”
The Wildcats will advance to the Final Four round with the win, and will play their next game at the BJCC in Birmingham on March 4 at 4:30 p.m. The Wildcats will play the winner of Marbury vs Sylacauga, who played on Tuesday.
