Sparkman gets win over Bob Jones
Playing before their biggest home crowd of the season Friday night, Bob Jones summoned every bit of basketball ability they could but it was still not enough as #5 Sparkman rallied from a halftime deficit to hand Bob Jones a key area loss by a final score of 50-46.
Despite the loss, Bob Jones coach Graham Aderholt said he was proud of the players for their effort that kept the crowd on their feet for the whole game.
“It doesn’t get any better than this, Bob Jones against Sparkman, a great rivalry, great crowd and a great atmosphere,” said Aderholt. “We always believe we can win no matter what. Our guys played hard and we will continue to improve as the year goes on.”
Bob Jones (4-10) was coming off a win over James Clemens in the Huntsville Times Classic.
“We are playing pretty good right now. We just got to capitalize on situations where we have a chance to win a game,” Aderholt said.
Bob Jones started fast in the early going against Sparkman.
A 3-point shot by Tanner Finley gave Bob Jones a 15-10 lead at the end of one quarter. The Patriots had their biggest lead of the game at 23-16 late in the second quarter after five straight points by Dalton Barkley.
Barkley had 11 points in the first half and finished with 19, his best game of the season.
Sparkman, who played four games in three days to reach the championship game at the Huntsville Times Classic, started fast on offense in the third quarter. Jason Russell cut the lead to one on a 3-pointer and Marcus Jeter’s offensive rebound and basket tied the game at 31.
William Crowell had a blocked shot and driving layup to tie the game at 33 and Lamonte Turner’s steal and three point play gave Sparkman their first lead at 36-33.
The lead grew to 42-33 before Bob Jones surged back behind a Jamarcus Jones 3-point shot. Ryan Flanigan hit two free throws to give Bob Jones a 45-44 lead with under a minute to play. The game was tied at 46 with 27 seconds left after a free throw by Dalton Barkley.
Sparkman’s Jason Russell hit a driving layup for the game winning shot with two seconds left. Bob Jones couldn’t get a shot off and Lamonte Turner sealed the win with two free throws.
Sparkman goes to 17-2 and is 4-0 in Area 15.
“Any time you win on the road, it’s a good win. I don’t care if it’s by one or ten, winning on the road is very difficult and we found a way to get it done,” said Sparkman Coach Jaime Coggins.
“I felt good that despite not playing well we were only down 3 points at halftime,” Coggins said. “We had some looks behind the arc and around the basket and couldn’t get it to go down. We had to play a lot of players to make sure our guys had fresh legs late in the game.”
Sparkman had only one player score in double figures, Jason Russell with 12 points. Crowell, normally the teams leading scorer had only two but other big men like Marcus Jeter picked up the slack with five and Jim Wall with six.
