Bob Jones brings home a championship
Landry, Ragland, and Moss were named to the All-Tournament team.
BY LINDSAY VAUGHT
Fortunately for Bob Jones it was not how they started that mattered in the championship game of the 29th Huntsville Times Classic.
How they finished is what the capacity crowd will remember. Led by tournament MVP Jeffrey Moss, the Patriots trailed into the third quarter but stormed back in the second half to take a 49-43 victory over Huntsville on the Panthers home court.
Fate tempted a Huntsville team that had not won its own tournament since 1985. The Panthers led by as many as 9 points in the third quarter but led by Moss who scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half, Bob Jones brought the golden basketball trophy home to Madison for the first time in a decade.
Reggie Ragland got two early fouls and went to the bench less than three minutes into the game. He would not return until the third quarter.
Kevin Wright took Ragland’s place. Bob Jones led 13-12 after one quarter but Zach Miller hit consecutive three pointers for Huntsville and the Panthers surged ahead. Miller had 15 points in the first half and Huntsville carried a 26-18 lead into halftime.
The lead grew to 32-23 for Huntsville early in the third quarter.
The Patriots rally started on defense as Tyler Davis shut down Miller who scored only one point in the second half. Bob Jones’ tight man-to-man defense forced nine turnovers.
During halftime, Bob Jones coach Danny Petty changed some matchups to slow Miller down.
Specifically, he assigned Tyler Davis, a 6-foot-3 senior to guard Miller.
“Coach told me how bad he (Miller) was killing us in the first half,” Davis said after the game. “I told myself I couldn’t allow us to go down like that and let one player beat us. I just had to fight through those screens and not give him any space.”
Ragland returned in the third quarter.
He dropped a three pointer to cut the lead to 32-30. H hit a jumper to give Bob Jones the lead back at 34-33.
He battled Huntsville’s Azaria Green, who, like Ragland, is a highly recruited football player.
The game was last tied at 38 but Moss and Ragland were just heating up and Huntsville had no answer. A Ragland drive and scoop shot gave Bob Jones a four-point lead. On defense, Jemel Harper drew a traveling turnover on Huntsville.
He hit two free throws with 13 seconds left as Bob Jones outscored Huntsville 17-6 in the fourth quarter.
The win pushes Bob Jones to 15-0 on the season but most of the players wanted to atone for last year’s team that lost in the quarterfinals to Butler by two points.
“Tyler is a real special player,” tournament MVP Jeffrey Moss said after the game. “He’s been like that all his life. Does the dirty work and doesn’t get the glory. Coach told him to stay tough with him (Miller) and play him man up.”
Moss was unstoppable even when he was fouled. He was 6 of 6 from the free throw line and was the unanimous choice as the tournament MVP.
“It feels pretty special,” Moss said of the award. “I been coming here for a while watching a lot of players and I am blessed to be MVP.”
The only thing he didn’t get was the chance to repay Butler for the loss last year.
“It didn’t matter who we played tonight,” said Moss who played the entire game with no bench time. “I came in with a chip on my shoulder that I was one of the best players here and I was going to come out here and prove it and win the championship.”
Travon Landry also played all 32 minutes at point guard along with Moss.
Landry, Ragland, and Moss were named to the All-Tournament team.
