Spartans advance to state championship

The Mountain Brook boys’ basketball team is on the doorstep of its first ever AHSAA Class 6A state championship. The Spartans defeated Blount in Thursday’s semifinal, 49-46, with 28 busloads of Mountain Brook students in attendance.

Mountain Brook survived a fourth period comeback attempt by the Leopards, who tied the game with 45 seconds to play after at one point trailing by 13.

Neither team got off to a good start; although the pace was fast, cold shooting from both sides led to a 9-8 Blount lead at the end of the first quarter.

The poor shooting and an abundance of turnovers from the first quarter carried over to the second. The Spartans outscored the Leopards 8-4 in the quarter to take a 16-13 halftime lead.

The Spartans’ shots began to fall in the third quarter. Mountain Brook pulled out to a 35-22 lead with a minute left in the third quarter, the team’s largest lead in the game. Malek Grant led the way with six third-quarter points for the Spartans, who ended the period with a 36-26 lead.

Blount outscored the Spartans 20-13 in the game’s final period, but late free throws from junior Patrick Keim sealed the deal for Mountain Brook.

Eric Raszeja led the Spartans with 11 points. Brothers Malek and Tawarren Grant each contributed 10 points on 3-5 shooting in the winning effort for Mountain Brook.

The championship game against will tip off at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 2 at the BJCC. It will be the Spartans’ first ever appearance in the game. Mountain Brook's opponent will be Sparkman, who won 79-68 in an overtime contest against Carver-Montgomery Thursday.