Sparkman To Host Boys & Girls Area Tournaments
HARVEST- The road to the State Basketball Tournament must be navigated along two-lane Jeff Road in Harvest before any additional plans can be made for the local Class 7A high school basketball teams. The small town in Madison County is home to the Sparkman High Senators and the 2018 post-season play will begin at the home of the Senators with both the boys and girls teams hosting the Area 8 Tournaments beginning next week.
The Sparkman boys (24-3, 6-0) are ranked No. 2 in the latest state rankings and raced through the regular season area play without a blemish. Meanwhile, Buckhorn (20-4, 3-3) suffered three of its four losses within the area, including two to Sparkman, but still have a No. 4 state ranking going into the area battle in what could easily be the toughest area in the state. The Area Tournament matchups have Sparkman facing fourth-seed Bob Jones (5-15, 1-5) Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m. and Buckhorn tangling with No. 10 James Clemens (14-8, 2-4) 6:00 p.m. A first-round victory automatically gives those winners a spot in Sub-Regional play.
For Sparkman head coach Jamie Coggins, he said the team knows where it stands within the state rankings and added, “These players have done a good job of blocking out distractions as we have started to hit our stride after winning three big area games in January.”
The Senators are led in scoring by Darron Howard (6-3, Sr.) with 15 points an outing and Malik Tyson (6-4, Jr.) who has 12 points and is pulling down six rebounds per game. Coggins added, “We’re coming together and sharing the ball as these players are showing their unselfishness and playing as a team. We need to keep doing the things we do well and improve on our weaknesses as we head into post-season action.”
In girls, the No. 3 ranked Lady Senators (22-4, 6-0) will face Bob Jones (1-18, 0-6) in the tournament’s opening round Feb. 6, 6:00 p.m. along with second-seed and No. 5 James Clemens (14-6, 3-3) tangling with Buckhorn (9-10, 3-3) at 7:30 p.m. Just an opening round win guarantees a spot in the Sub Regional Tournament set for Feb. 12.
Both area finals will be played Feb. 10 with girls at 5:30 p.m. and boys following at 7:00 p.m.
“I think these girls play together as a team better than any of my previous groups as they have a knack for knowing what each other are going to do on the floor offensively and defensively,” said Patrick Delay head coach of the Lady Senators. “We have five or six players who can score in double figures, which makes us tough to defend. We are still working on being a little more consistent as we tend have a four or five minute stretch in a game when we don’t make good decisions with the basketball.”
For Madison Academy in Class 4A, the No. 4 Mustangs (16-7, 4-2) will suit up against Madison County (6-13, 1-4) in the opening round of the Area 14 Tournament while one-seed and No. 6 ranked Westminster (8-8, 4-0) will face Randolph (4-13, 1-4) at action played at Westminster. In girls, the No. 2 Lady Mustangs (16-3, 7-0) host Westminster (0-11, 0-4) and No. 10 Madison County (15-8, 3-2) will battle Randolph (1-14, 1-4). The exact dates and times were not set at press time.
The Lady Mustangs are defending Class 4A state champs and look to be headed down the correct path to possible defense of its championship.
