Erin Nelson Photo by Erin Nelson.
Mountain Brook's Ty Davis (3) dribbles the ball guarded by Buckhorn's Kyler Douglass (13) during the Class 6A state championship game between the Bucks and Spartans at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena on Saturday, March 4, 2023. Photo by Erin Nelson.
The Mountain Brook High School boys basketball team was a single win away from Class 6A glory in 2022-23.
Last year, Mountain Brook finished as the state runner-up, falling to Buckhorn and phenom Caleb Holt in the championship game. So, this season, the Spartans have a bunch of players ready to take another bite at the apple.
“It’s going to be a veteran-led team,” Mountain Brook head coach Tyler Davis said. “A lot of these guys played in the state championship game.”
The Spartans have eight seniors and a few starters returning from that team.
“These are guys that have been in the system, they play well together, they understand the system and know what goes into a long season. That’s exciting,” Davis said.
Senior guard Ty Davis, a recent Creighton University signee, is back to lead the Spartans. He will be in his fourth varsity season and believes this team has great potential.
“You can’t take any game for granted,” he said.
Ty Davis missed a few weeks during the preseason but took some value from what he saw during that time. He watched players like Carson Romero, John Webb, John Carwie and Henry Hufham step up and be leaders. Ty Davis, Romero, Webb, Clark Sanderson, Tucker Crawford, Carwie, Hufham and Lawson Gardner bring plenty to the table for this Spartans squad.
Tyler Davis has the unique perspective of having known this senior class long before the eight of them entered the high school program. With his son Ty as part of that class, Tyler Davis has watched them play since they were young.
“They’ve always been successful. They might not win every game, but they’ve won a lot of championships over the years.,” the coach said.
Even though there may not be any players in that class with the obvious professional potential that previous stars like Trendon Watford and Colby Jones showed, there is something to be said for the qualities they have gained in their careers.
“That’s a group of guys that are all on the same page, their chemistry is really good, they play well off each other, they’re all winners and they expect to win. That’s a tough intangible for some people to understand or see,” Tyler Davis said.
There are a few players ascending from the junior varsity team, with players like Trey Davis and Jack Bakken looking to take up some minutes. Grant Siegel, Thomas Graham, Mac Couvillion and Hill McCluney are also on the varsity team this year.
As always, Mountain Brook’s schedule features the familiar local faces but also several top-notch opponents on the regional and even national scale.
“We do a lot of that just to be tested, so hopefully when it gets to playoff time, we’ve learned from adversity, learned from mistakes and learned from going through those different battles to make us better,” Tyler Davis said.
The Spartans will be competing in Class 6A, Area 10 with Pell City, Woodlawn and Shades Valley once again this year. Locally, they will take on Chelsea, Spain Park, Thompson, Huntsville, Hartselle, Vestavia Hills, Clay-Chalkville and others leading up to what they hope amounts to another deep playoff push.
“Getting all the way there and then losing, that’s not fun,” Ty Davis. “Having guys that know what it takes, it fuels the fire more to go as hard as you can.”
