BELGREEN - How good were Belgreen’s boys in the first quarter of the Class 1A, Area 13 championship game on Saturday night?
So good that they scored six points before Tharptown even attempted a shot, and 18 points before the Wildcats made a shot.
So good that they led 14-2 by the time 6’6 junior Mason Bragwell—averaging a team-best 18.1 points per game on the year—scored his first point, and 20-4 by the time head coach Clint Isbell went to his bench for the first time four minutes into the game.
So good that when senior guard Seth Taylor’s last-second heave from just in front of the scorer’s table came up a couple of feet short as the first-quarter clock expired, the faithful members of Bulldog Nation seemed genuinely disappointed.
So good that Isbell had to go all the way back to January of 2017 to come up with a first-quarter performance by his team that even compared to Saturday’s early onslaught.
“Last year in the county championship game against Phil Campbell, I think we scored thirty-something in the first quarter,” said Isbell, whose team did indeed lead the Bobcats 30-4 at the end of one in that county final. “We scored thirty-seven tonight, so I guess we out-did ourselves. It was unbelievable.”
Belgreen’s blistering start strained the imagination, to be sure, to the point that it’s hard to fathom them—or anybody else, for that matter—playing much better. After senior reserve Caleb Pinkard scored on a putback at the 1:20 mark of the first quarter, the Bulldogs led 37-10 and were shooting 11-for-16 from the floor (including five three-pointers) and a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line. They withstood a second-quarter charge by Tharptown and rolled to their second straight area title with a 92-59 rout.
Saturday’s win was the 10th in a row for Belgreen (24-5 and ranked No. 8 by the ASWA) since a loss at Tharptown exactly four weeks prior.
“It felt great,” Taylor said post-game after climbing down a ladder with a piece of nylon in his hand. “Back to back. We came out hot. We were prepared. We wanted to get them back for last time. They beat us at their place, and we played pretty bad. We’re more focused now, and we’re playing together. We’re zoned in. It’s playoff time.”
With the postseason atmosphere percolating on Saturday, the Bulldogs’ energy level was night-and-day different from where it was in that 58-50 loss to the Wildcats on January 13.
“We came out with a lot of intensity,” said senior forward Payton Scott, who scored a season-high 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting and was one of five Belgreen players to finish in double-figures. “The last time we played them, we came out flat. We knew we couldn’t do that again tonight.”
The Bulldogs’ shot-making in Saturday’s first quarter was impressive [guards Brant Bragwell and Eli Hiser hit back-to-back threes a little over two minutes in, followed moments later by a three from Mason Bragwell at the 3:45 mark and then two triples from Taylor that stretched the lead to 31-8], but Isbell was most pleased with the way his team revved up the pace with their effort and energy.
“Somebody just asked me how many shots we missed [in the first quarter]. I told them I wasn’t sure, but it couldn’t have been more than five,” Isbell said. “But what really stood out to me about our guys was the intensity they played with. To see those shots falling is great, but we don’t get a lot of those shots if we’re not pushing the ball up the floor and playing defense the way we were.”
In that opening seven-minute barrage, Belgreen came up with five steals and forced nine turnovers—three of which came on Tharptown’s first three possessions of the game. The Bulldogs are at their best when their pressure defense produces takeaways that lead to transition baskets, which in turn allow them to set up their press and turn up the heat even more. The result is a breakneck pace so frenetic that most opponents have a hard time keeping up.
“It starts to mess with other teams a little,” said Taylor, who knocked down three threes on Saturday and finished with 11 points. “It wears them down. We’re pretty deep, and we play a lot of guys, so that’s the way we want it.”
Scott, one of the Bulldogs' chief instigators on defense, echoed those thoughts.
“The press is a big part of [playing at] that pace,” he said, “because it gets everybody involved. The bench gets into it, the crowd gets into it—it helps us get our intensity up.”
Isbell was asked after the game if he thought it was even possible to sustain a pace like Saturday’s first quarter for an entire 32 minutes.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “But I thought we did a dang good job tonight of maintaining it for about 75 percent of the game.”
Belgreen’s energy level remained high throughout Saturday’s first half, but the shots stopped going in. The Bulldogs hit just 6-of-25 attempts in the second quarter, and Tharptown (11-16) closed the half on a 13-2 run. Senior guard Levi McCormack capped it off with a transition three, getting the Wildcats within 15 at 52-37 going into the break.
A rebound and stick-back by senior forward Cole Daniel to open the second half cut the margin to 13, but Belgreen responded with a 7-0 run to go back up by 20. The third quarter was largely a parade to the foul line, with the two teams combining to attempt 30 free throws. [The Bulldogs cashed in, going 12-for-17 at the line, while the Wildcats struggled and went just 6-for-13.]
The lead was 73-51 at the end of three, and it swelled to 30 at 85-55 on a basket by Scott midway through the fourth. Belgreen’s starters left the floor to a loud ovation at the 3:42 mark, and the student section started chanting “We want Wallace” as the final 30 seconds ticked off the clock.
With a win at home on Tuesday night over Area 12 runner-up Marion County, the Bulldogs would have their second consecutive berth in the Northwest Regional. But they won’t be satisfied with merely reaching Hanceville again.
“We want Wallace,” Taylor said after the game, “but we want Birmingham, too.”
The Bulldogs finished Saturday’s game shooting 40 percent (29-for-73) from the floor, with eight three-pointers. They were 26-for-36 from the foul line. They also had 21 steals—including six apiece from Hiser and fellow senior guard Jacob Mayberry—and forced 34 turnovers.
“We wanted to pressure the ball tonight as much as we could,” Isbell said, “and we wanted to control the boards both defensively and offensively. Cole Daniel is a heckuva player. He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s a tough guy to box out.”
The Wildcats held a 39-32 edge on the glass, but that was due in part to the fact that they took 22 fewer shots than Belgreen. Tharptown shot 39 percent (20-for-51) from the floor and 17-for-30 from the line, with two three-pointers.
Brant Bragwell finished with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including a pair of threes. Mason Bragwell missed eight of his ten shots from the floor but went 11-for-14 at the line and still finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
Scott had four boards, two assists and two steals to go with his 14 points, and Seth Taylor scored 11. Hiser had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and six steals, and Mayberry finished with eight points, four assists and six steals.
Gaven Taylor and Jake Taylor each scored four points, and Isaac Willingham had three. Pinkard, Ashlee Britton and Scout Bragwell added two apiece.
Daniel led Tharptown with 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting and also grabbed nine rebounds. Senior guard Aaron Creasy scored 13 points, and Edward Lopez added 10 points and nine boards. McCormack had seven points and five rebounds, and Carson Petree and Winston Nolen each scored five. Misael Saldana pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with his two points.
The Wildcats will look to bounce back on Tuesday night and punch their ticket to Hanceville with a sub-regional win at Area 12 champion Meek. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, will try to keep things rolling against Marion County.
“I feel like we’re playing our best basketball right now,” Isbell said. “If we keep coming out with this level of intensity, I like our chances.”