By DRUW GIAMALVA The Reporter
The No. 1 seeded Albertville Aggies will look to repeat as Marshall County champions on Saturday night after defeating the No. 5 seeded Arab Knights on Thursday at Snead State. The Aggies are the defending champions after defeating Guntersville in last year’s tournament final.
Thursday’s game started with Albertville winning the tipoff. Aggie Keandre Yancey started off the game on a strong note, as he secured two layups and a block in the first three possessions of the game. Arab opened up their scoring with a Zac Hallman 3-point shot. A dunk by Knight Landon Strickland cut the Aggie lead to 6-5.
The Aggies would go on a 5-0 scoring run that was led by Cooper Colvin and Isaiah Faulks. Colvin would hit a 3-pointer and Faulks would provide a layup. The Aggies would enter the second period with a 16-8 lead.
The Knights gave the Aggies trouble in the second quarter, as Arab held Albertville to just five second-quarter points. Arab would end the second quarter on a 9-0 run with Strickland and Drew Puccio scoring all of the Knights’ points. Strickland had five second-quarter points and Puccio finished with four second-quarter points. The Aggies’ lead was cut to 21-17 entering halftime.
The Aggies bounced back with a strong second half, as they scored 22 third-quarter points. Aggie John McCullars led with a 3-point shot and three made free throws. Hunter Smith added a layup and three made free throws. The Aggies extended their lead to 43-30 to end the third period.
The start of the fourth quarter was a wild one, as the Aggies pulled off back-to-back dunks. Cooper Colvin started the quarter with a 3-point shot and a monster slam to give the Aggies their first five points of the quarter. The second slam was an alley-oop from Taliq Saint to McCullars. The Aggies’ scoring run ended at 12, as Puccio made a free throw.
It took Arab six minutes of game time to secure their first point of the fourth quarter. In the end, the Aggies would win 59-39 to secure their spot in the Marshall County Tournament Championship game.
“I thought that Arab played really well. They really competed and made us play at a pace that we had to settle into. They did a good job of making a comeback at the end of the first half. Our guys are just resilient, and they play really hard. We finally got some shots to go in at the second half. We are excited to be playing in the championship game, and our guys have really been growing as a team,” said Albertville head coach Chris Graves.
Albertville was led by Colvin, who finished with 14 points. McCullars finished with 10 points and Smith finished with nine points.
Arab was led by Strickland, who finished with nine points. Puccio and Carson Jennings each finished with five points.
Albertville will play in the Marshall County Tournament final on Saturday at Snead State at 7 p.m.
