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JACKSONVILLE – The Spartans are on a mission.
Paulie Stramaglia’s two free throws with 22.5 seconds to play gave the Mountain Brook High School boys basketball team its first lead since early in the final quarter, as the Spartans knocked off Huffman, 56-52, on Wednesday morning in the Class 7A Northeast Regional Final at Jacksonville State University.
“What a game,” said Mountain Brook head coach Bucky McMillan. “That was crazy, and so good for high school basketball. I’m really excited that we’re advancing, but it was a crisp, smooth game with great competition.”
Mountain Brook wins
Mountain Brook (29-5) took a 44-40 lead into the fourth quarter, but allowed Huffman (25-8) to go on a 10-1 run to start the period, putting the Spartans behind the eight-ball.
With the Spartans trailing by five and fewer than three minutes remaining on the game clock, Ben McCool knocked down a corner 3-pointer, followed by a Trendon Watford basket to tie the game. Qudarrius Mullins’ ensuing basket gave Huffman a 52-50 edge with 1:56 to play.
Sean Elmore was fouled on consecutive possessions, each time splitting a pair of free throws and leaving the game tied at 52-52 with 46.1 seconds to play.
The play of the game occurred between those two possessions, as a Huffman player drove to the basket and met an unfriendly opponent in Watford. As both players leapt towards the rim, Watford swatted the shot away with force.
“It was one-on-one,” Watford said. “I got up before him and we met at the highest point. It felt great.”
Watford posted a double-double, with game highs with 24 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks. He was 9-of-13 from the field in an efficient offensive performance, but the block epitomized his total impact of the game.
“We’ve all seen him dominate games offensively, but I hadn’t seen him do this until later in the season,” McMillan said. “He dominated the game on the defensive end.”
With the win, Mountain Brook is back in the Final Four after falling in the regional semifinals in 2016. The Spartans will take on McGill-Toolen next Thursday, March 2, at 1:30 p.m. at the BJCC.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” said Watford. “We’ve worked so hard, and that’s what all this leads to.”
“This is what keeps us going at practice,” McCool said.
The Vikings held the largest lead of the game at eight points early in the third quarter, as a 6-0 spurt gave them a 34-26 advantage.
Mountain Brook turned a 38-32 deficit late in the third quarter into a 44-40 lead after three quarters with a 12-2 burst, half of which came courtesy of a pair of Britton Johnson 3-pointers. Johnson scored nine points in the game, on 3-of-5 shooting from deep.
“BJ shoots the ball as well as anyone, and when he gets going, it makes us hard to guard,” McMillan said. “He’s got confidence too, even if he’s having a bad game. He always feels like the next one is going in.”
Sean Elmore scored eight points to go along with five rebounds for Mountain Brook. Stramaglia had a game-high five assists.
The matchup was the fifth between the two Class 7A, Area 6 foes. Huffman defeated the Spartans just once – in the area tournament final – but each game was a hard-fought battle.
“We got beat by them one time,” McMillan said. “We had to learn from our mistakes the previous games. Up one point last time, we needed one stop to win the area championship and we couldn’t do it. It was great to see the same situation presented this time and for them to come through.”
Travarus Carroll led the Vikings with 20 points, followed by Mullins' 13 points. Carroll, Mullins and Myreon Jones were named to the all-tournament team from Huffman, along with McCool from Mountain Brook. Watford was named regional tournament MVP.
Mountain Brook’s program has ascended to a status that simply making the Final Four is not the end of the road.
“When I played basketball at Mountain Brook and we made it to the Final Four in 2001, it was like we already won. It was just icing on the cake,” McMillan said.
The Spartans’ playoff shirts read, “On a mission.”
That mission is not complete just yet.
