Spartans one game away from final 48
After finishing a 23-6 regular season, the AHSAA Class 6A 10th-ranked Mountain Brook Varsity Boys’ Basketball Team has won four games in a row to reach Friday’s (Feb. 22) Northeast Regional final.
The Spartans will face Lee-Huntsville at 10:45 a.m. on the campus of Jacksonville State University. Mountain Brook hosted the Area 11 finals earlier this month, where they disposed of Woodlawn and Shades Valley to earn a spot in the sub-regional game.
On Feb. 15, the Spartans won the sub-regional against Carver by a score of 60-52. Wednesday they advanced to the regional final by beating Clay-Chalkville, 47-44.
Spartan coach Bucky McMillan credits his team’s depth as one of the key factors in Mountain Brook’s success this season.
“You can’t just focus against one or two guys when you’re playing us,” McMillan said. “On any given night we can have anyone lead us in scoring.”
In the Woodlawn game, 10th grader Tawarren Grant led the way scoring with 13 points. Junior Patrick Keim put up 21 points in the Area final, senior Jeremy Berman led the Spartans against Carver with 17 and senior Malek Grant recorded 20 points in the semifinal win over Clay-Chalkville.
McMillan has trusted his players to take care of business in tournament play. From the team leaders such as Keim, Berman and Malek Grant to the deep Spartan bench, the concept that the next game could be the last has resonated all season long.
“The mindset has got to be that it’s a one-game season, and what’s happened before this is irrelevant,” McMillan said. “They’ve been playing every game like this all season.”