page 8 december 16 — 22, 2015 | the trussville tribune ... 8 december 16 — 22, 2015 | the...
TRANSCRIPT
Page 8 December 16 — 22, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune
CalendarGeorgiana Davis Ma-
sonic Lodge meetings Georgiana Davis Ma-
sonic Lodge No. 338 in Trussville meetings are at 7:30 p.m. on the sec-ond and fourth Monday each month. Practice nights are on the first and third Monday. Fam-ily nights are on the fifth Monday of the month. The lodge is at 190 Beechnut St. in Truss-ville. For more informa-tion, call Bruce Phillips at 205-4852.
Center Point Masonic
Lodge meetings Center Point Masonic
Lodge No. 872 located off Old Springville Road meets every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. For more in-formation call Mike Lann at 205-6877160.
Springville Military Order of the Purple
Heart meetings The Military Order of
the Purple Heart Chap-ter 2213, Springville, meets at the Smokin Grill at 85 Purple Heart Boulevard on the first Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m.
Republican Women of
Trussville meetings Republic Women of
Trussville meetings are at Three-Earred Rabbit on Main Street in Truss-ville the first Thursday of each month. Meet and greet is at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting follows at 6 p.m. For more in-formation, visit www.
rwot. net or email cher-y lamathews@gmai l . com.
Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting
The Sons of Confeder-ate Veterans meets the 3rd Thursday of each month at First Baptist Church Trussville at 7 p.m.
Cahawba Art Association
meetings The Cahawba Art As-
sociation meets monthly on the second Monday at 6 p.m. at the Truss-ville Public Library.
Speakers present in-teresting programs and demonstrations at each meeting. Visitors are always welcome and membership is open to anyone with an interest
in art. For more infor-mation call 661-0517.
Jazzercise at Trussville
Civic Center Jazzercise is Mondays
at 5 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., and Satur-days at 9 a.m. at the Trussville Civic Center. For more information, contact Beth Gilbert at 205-966-9893.
Grayson Valley Prayer Connection
The Grayson Val-ley Community Church prayer connection is the 4th Wednesday of every month at 11 a.m.
Margaret Lions Club The Margaret Lions
Club meets at Louie’s Pickles and Italian Deli,
13099 U.S. Hwy. 411 in Odenville on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month. The meet-ings are at 7 p.m., and you can contact Faye Pino at 205-629-3395 for more information.
TACC Food DriveThe Trussville Area
Chamber of Commerce is set to host its annual food drive the week of Feb. 12 until Feb. 19. Donations can be made at TEAM location or oth-er locations around the city.
Mayor's BreakfastThe Eastern Area
Mayor's breakfast is set to be held at 7:30 a.m.
March 7, 2017 at teh Trussville Civic Center. Keynote speaker will be former Alabama running back Bobby Humphrey. For more information, please contact Bobbi Roper at [email protected]
Cahaba Dog Park Forum
A citizen-led group will be meeting to discuss ideas and form a com-mittee to create Truss-ville's first dog park on Feb. 5 at the ACTA building at 3 p.m. For more info, email Jaime Anderson at [email protected] or call 205-234-4165
Trussville History Museum to open to
the publicThe Trussville History
Museum will be open to the public on Sunday, February 5, 2017 and Sunday, March 5, 2017. Hours are 1 pm to 3 pm both dates. Museum lo-cation is 225 Parkway Drive inside Heritage Hall on the East Mall. Members of Trussville Historical Board will be there to talk about the many artifacts on dis-play. Free tours at other times are available by appointment. To sched-ule a tour or for more in-formation call Jane Alex-ander at 205 655-3144.
PORCELAIN VENEERS
IN-OFFICE WHITENING
IMPLANT RESTORATION
CROWNS AND BRIDGES
WHITE AND SILVER FILLINGS
ROOT CANAL THERAPY
PERIODONTAL THERAPY
EXTRACTIONS
COMPLETE/PARTIAL DENTURES
ORAL CANCER SCREENINGS
RELAXING GAS
BUFFERED ANESTHESIA
DIGITAL XRAYS
SKINMEDICA PRODUCTS
DERMAL FILLERS
FINANCING AVAILABLE
December 16 — 22, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune Page 9
PROJECTS, From pg. 2
DOG PARK, From pg. 1
about them or keep them on the radar, they kind of get on the back burner," he said. "This is kind of our way of being held account-able."
In addition to keeping the council informed, Choat
said he has toyed with the idea of putting a list of city projects on the city website and checking off the com-pleted items.
"I want to keep the citi-zens informed, and keep them in tune with what we're focusing on. I have no problem with keeping people informed, I want to
be positive and open about it," Choat said. "I want my council, project managers and everybody to be in-formed.
Collectively, the council felt positive following the meeting, and Choat said it was very important to him for he and his council to work together in every pos-
sible way."This kind of meeting
was positive, and gave an opportunity to allow the council to feel included in the business and projects," he said. "We were all elect-ed by the people to serve the people, and we're all in this thing together."
File photo
Using the former Gold Kist property is one project the city is working to complete.
Garcia added the park would probably be nothing but those trees at first, but it could easily be built around.
“This is our park. We’re going to get out of it what we as a community put into it,” she said. “If we want a bigger, better, fancier park, then we will have to raise money or have items do-nated.”
One thought was it would give potential Eagle Scouts another opportunity to do their scout projects.
Garcia and Jana Wright essentially came up with the idea of organizing citi-zens to help because of the fact this will be a citizen-led project. The group isn’t ask-ing for any money from the city, only it’s cooperation with installation of fencing, maintenance of the grass and trash pickup – some-thing the city already does for every other park.
Wright said one of the biggest reasons she wanted to get a dog park built in Trussville was because she was tired of loading up her dogs and having to travel long distances to another city. She mentioned living in Charlotte, NC, which has several impressive dog parks, and said they were helpful in making the city a more attractive place to live, as well as driving up home values.
Anderson said she wanted to make clear that this proj-ect would not take away
from any other ongoing projects in the city, as this would be a community-based project.
“We’re not trying to take anyone else’s land. We want to use a piece of land the city already owns that can’t be used for anything else. It’s the perfect size,” she said.
Once the park is fenced in, it could potentially open immediately. Garcia, who is a pet care professional and on the board of Bama Bully Rescue, said when that hap-pens, she hopes to be able to educate the public on safety procedures.
“Safety is our biggest concern. Trussville has an incredible community of dog lovers,” Garcia said. “Promoting a safe environ-ment is going to be the top priority. One of my personal goals is to educate people on dog safety and how to be a responsible pet owner.”
The group is planning a community meeting, and it is open to anyone interested in volunteering or donating. The meeting is set for Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. in the Trussville Historical Society/ACTA building. In the meantime, any person with questions may email [email protected] or call Jaime An-derson at 205-234-4165.
“What our group is re-ally wanting to do is get the community together and see what people can contribute to this project,” Anderson said. “This is going to be the community’s park, built by the citizens.”
Google Maps photo
The land delegated for the Cahaba Dog Park.
assisted his family after the tornadoes in 2012.
"I live in a community that's filled with compas-sionate people who will go far beyond any expecta-tions to take care of those in need," Locke said.
Webster also mentioned that the city has begun work on updating the facilities at the high school, includ-ing a new stone facade and painting. "Things are really changing and looking really nice, and that's just a work in progress," he said.
The council later voted
unanimously on a resolution releasing a lien at 5278 Bal-boa Avenue.
During the public com-ments portion, former coun-cil member Kevin Small suggested that, since the city is still waiting for the new deputies, the council should consider purchasing more mobile camera units.
"We'll probably end up putting up some cameras in certain areas that are perma-nently-mounted," Webster said.
The next Clay City Coun-cil meeting will be held Tuesday, February 14 at 6:30 p.m., with pre-council at 6.
CLAY, From pg. 1
File photo
The City of Clay has been doing upgrades to the facade at Clay-Chalkville High School.
Page 10 December 16 — 22, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune
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December 16 — 22, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune Page 11
Hewitt, Pinson falls in first ever AHSAA duals
Photo courtesy TCS
By David KnoxSports Editor
They will still crown a state wrestling champion at Huntsville’s Von Braun Center next month.
But for the first time, Ala-bama will determine a state duals champion, a head-to-head champ, in Classes 7A, 6A and 1A-5A. That champ will be decided Saturday at CrossPlex at Birmingham’s Fair Park.
Hewitt-Trussville and
Pinson Valley put up fierce battles but fell shy of the fi-nals.
Vestavia Hills, coached by Tee Adams, slipped past Hewitt 32-31 Tues-day night in the 7A semifi-nals at VHHS. The Huskies dropped Grissom 37-34 in the first round while Vestavia Hills beat Bob Jones 50-16.
Two weeks ago, VHHS beat the Huskies 37-25, so Dave Barden’s Hewitt bunch closed the gap since then.
Adams, a former Vestavia wrestler, previously coached at HTHS.
Pinson Valley’s boys, strong all year under Gene Richardson, were nipped 37-31 by Southside of Gads-den at Gadsden in the 6A semifinals.
The Indians had topped Homewood 45-22 in the quarterfinals.
Clay-Chalkville beat Ath-ens 48-41 in round one but lost to Southside 53-12 in the quarters.
Pinson Valley boys race away late in impressive win over No. 6 Clay-ChalkvilleBy David KnoxSports Editor
CLAY – In a showdown for the top spot in Class 6A, Area 12, it was a battle for three quarters, but the Pin-son Valley Indians galloped away in the fourth quarter for a 59-37 win over sixth-ranked Clay-Chalkville.
In a raucous gym with fan
and student support seem-ingly for the neighborhood rivals, it was the young In-dians who took the fight to their more-experienced op-ponents. Clay-Chalkville’s senior standouts of Jalen Jordan and Anthony Holmes had their hands full with Pinson Valley junior Orion Morris, who scored 19 points, dished out 11 as-
sists and had 10 rebounds. Freshman Colby Jones scored 12 points, 10 in the second half, and sopho-more Geordon Pollard add-ed 11, seven in the fourth quarter, and 10 rebounds. Christopher Lewis was a major contributor with 15 rebounds off the bench to go with his four points.
“We played well,” Indi-
ans coach Cedric Lane said. “We know Clay’s a strong team and a strong defensive team, so we worked a lot on making it hard for them to score.”
It was Pinson early, pull-ing out to an 11-4 lead af-ter a quarter. The Indians led 16-5 after Pollard con-
HT boys, PV girls advance to state bowling championships
From staff reports
Hewitt-Trussville’s boys and Pinson Valley’s girls are rolling for a state champion-ship.
They were among the top eight girls teams and top eight boys teams in Friday’s championship elimination bracket from each regional and advanced to earn a berth in the second AHSAA State Bowling Championships. The state championships, one each in boys and girls, take place Thursday and Fri-day at Pelham’s Oak Moun-tain Lanes.
Defending state champi-ons are Spain Park’s boys and Sparkman’s girls. Both are among the qualifiers from regional tourney com-petition.
Spain Park’s team is coached by the school’s softball coach, C.J. Urse Hawkins, the longtime Clay-Chalkville softball coach.
Last week, Pinson Val-ley‘s girls advanced by beat-ing Gardendale 680-596 before losing in the quarter-finals to Etowah 797-577. Hewitt-Trussville’s girls lost in the opening round to La-
mar County 583-572.The Hewitt boys beat
Hartselle 858-818 to ad-vance. They lost in the quar-ters to Gadsden City 902-885.
Who: Hewitt-Trussville &Pinson Valley bowling
What: AHSAA State BowlingTournament
Where: Oak Mtn LanesWhen: Jan. 27, 2017
Girls Teams: (South) Thompson; Pelham;
Vestavia Hills; Spain Park; Auburn; Foley; Gulf Shores;
Mary Montgomery.(North) Southside-Gadsden;
Etowah; Sparkman; James Clemens; Capitol School; La-
mar County; Hartselle; Pinson Valley.
Boys Teams:(South) Stanhope Elmore; Auburn; Thompson; Spain Park; Indian Springs; Mary Montgomery; Northview;
Vestavia Hills. (North) James Clemens;
Etowah; Lincoln; Gadsden City; East Limestone; Grissom;
Hewitt-Trussville; Madison County.
QUICK OUT
By David KnoxSports Editor
TRUSSVILLE -- The National Federation of State High School Associ-ations has named Hewitt-Trussville baseball coach Jeff Mauldin both the Ala-bama Coach of the Year and the South Sectional Coach of the Year for 2016 after leading the Huskies to their first state baseball championship in March.
The Southern section includes the states of Ala-bama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Car-olina and Tennessee.
“It’s pretty humbling,” Mauldin said. “The letter came in the mail and funny thing, I get letters from the NFHS all the time — usually it’s selling stuff, or some product or video — and I almost threw it away. But I put it in my bag and took it home. Opened up my bag and pulled it out, would’ve thrown it away but there wasn’t a trash can nearby, so I opened it up and just said, “‘Holy Cow!'”
He said looking at the state that the Southern Sec-tion comprises he started to realize how big of an honor
it was.He told his coaches that
word might leak out, so he wanted them to hear it from him first.
“Without the coaches — and Jeff Schrupp and Guy Howard have been with me at Hewitt-Trussville from Day 1 — I said ‘None of this is possible without you guys.
The state championship, any awards … and of course, the players.”
He said one of the most meaningful messages he got was from the father of Keegan Morgan. “He said ‘I just want to thank you. Please take the time to re-flect on all the players and coaches and the impact
you’ve made on their lives. … you have no idea how much we love you.'”
“And that really got to me, because that’s what it’s all about, impacting the kids. Wins and losses happen, and awards are nice, but having the chance to make a differ-ence in a young man’s life is the ultimate reward.”
Coach of the Year
1,000 Points!Clay-Chalkville senior point guard Raven Omar scored the 1,000th point in her career in the Lady Cougars’ win over Pinson Valley on Friday.Omar joined former Lady Cougar Kristian Hudson as the only members of the girls’ 1,000-point club at Clay. Omar signed to play basketball next season at Samford.
Sports
File photo
File photo
HTHS baseball coach Jeff Mauldin named region, state baseball coach of year
Photo by Chris Yow
See PINSON, pg. 12
Page 12 December 16 — 22, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune
Photo by Chris Yow
PINSON, From pg. 11
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Lady Cougars take down Pinson Valley, clinch Area 12 title
By David KnoxSports Editor
CLAY – The past two sea-sons, Clay-Chalkville’s Lady Cougars have wound up in a tie for the area championship.
“We’ve had to flip a coin the past two years,” Lady Cougars coach Justin Haynie said. “Not my fa-vorite thing to do.”
Seventh-ranked Clay-Chalkville removed any random factor from deter-mining the Class 6A, Area 12 champion Friday night, knocking off Pinson Valley 64-42 and wrapping up the title with an area game yet to play. The Lady Cougars (19-5, 5-0) close out the area slate with a game at Gardendale on Tuesday.
Despite the lop-sided win, it wasn’t all pretty for the Lady Cougars. Fiesty Pinson Valley took the fight
to them early and the Lady Cougars looked rushed of-fensively to put the Lady Indians away. An Aaliyah May 3-pointer cut the Clay lead to 10-6 before some good offensive board work and a fastbreak basket by Raven Omar pushed the lead to 14-6 at the quarter break.
The Lady Cougars settled down in the second period and put the game away. Center Alex Johnson scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the period on a variety of putbacks, turn-arounds and point guard Omar added six points as the Lady Cougars outscored Pinson Valley 24-10 in the quarter for a 38-16 lead.
The Lady Cougars kept their margin above 20 for the most part, even as Haynie subbed liberally to rest his starters. Clay led 54-30 after three and with-
stood a 12-10 fourth-peri-od burst by Pinson for the 22-point win.
Amiya Payne followed Johnson’s 21 with 12 as the only other double-figure scorer. Nine Lady Cougars scored.
For Pinson Valley, four players scored six points apiece: May, Kaylin Ham-by, Kaitlyn Ambrose and Barryonna White for the Lady Indians, who are showing much improve-ment from the start of the season.
After the trip to Garden-dale, Clay travels to McA-dory for a Friday game and closes out the regular season with a home game against Shades Valley on Tuesday, Jan. 31, and a road game at Mountain Brook on Friday, Feb. 3.
The Area 12 tournament will be the next week at Clay.
From staff reports
Playing in his first Army-Navy game, former Clay-Chalkville basketball star, Hasan Abdullah scored 21 points as the Midshipmen beat the Black Knights 96-80 in overtime on Saturday in a game televised on CBS Sports Network.
Abdullah, Navy’s start-ing point guard, added three rebounds, three as-sists and two steals before fouling out with 80 seconds left in the overtime period.
Navy (10-10, 5-3 Pa-triot League) won its fifth straight game. Abdullah has scored in double fig-ures in four of those wins. He is averaging 8.4 points a game but has boosted that to 11.3 in conference play.
He leads the team with 60 assists and 41 steals.
Abdullah ranks 25th in the NCAA in total steals
and is 30th in steals per game (2.05). He ranks sec-ond in the Patriot League in steals per game.
Abdullah key to Navy success
Photo by Phil Hoffmann / Navy Athletics
verted a three-point play before the Cougars mount-ed a first-half flurry, going on a 14-6 run, culminating with a steal and layup by Holmes, who had nine of his 10 points in the quarter.
The second half saw PV slip out to a nine-point mar-gin at 30-21 lead before Jordan started a Clay surge with a pair of free-throws. Junior Otis Black knocked in a trey, his second of the game, Colin Bryant came up with a steal and a layin and Holmes made a free-throw – his final point of the night, however – to cut the score to 32-31 with 15 second left in the period.
But Morris came down and bagged a jumper with a
second left to give PV a 34-31 lead after three quarters.
The fourth quarter was all Indians.
They continued with their full-court pressure defense and turned every mad shot, every missed shot and ev-ery turnover into a race for the basket. Morris started it with a steal and layup plus-1 to push the lead to 37-31. The Cougars managed just six points in the period while the Indians poured in 25, closing on a 16-4 run to finish off the home team.
“I think they kind of wore down a little bit and we made shots, and we made our free throws,” Lane said. The Indians were 15-of-25 from the foul line.
Holding Holmes and Johnson to five points in the second half was a big fac-
tor. Johnson scored eight in the game.
“Jalen is one of the best point guards around here,” Lane said, “We know how well he attacks, so we want-ed to get help on him.”
Lane, in his first year at Pinson Valley, is rebuilding from a disastrous couple of seasons.
“I’m proud of my team, of the way they fought to-night,” Lane said. “We’re just trying to prove a point. Trying to peak at the right time.”
Clay dropped to (18-4, 4-1) and travels to Gar-dendale on Tuesday for the Area 12 finale. Pinson Val-ley is also 4-1 in the area, and closes area play with Gardendale on Thursday, Jan. 26.
For up to the minute sports coverage, visit
www.trussvilletribune.com
December 16 — 22, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune Page 13
From staff reports
National Signing Day is Wednesday, Feb. 1. Offers are starting to pick up, and players are beginning to announce their oral, non-binding, commitments as the day to suign on the line approaches.
Clay-Chalkville’s out-statnding defensive tackle Keilend Clayton commit-ted to East Tennessee State, a member of the Southern Conference. ETSU’s coach is Carl Torbush, who resur-rected the program in 2015. Torbush had been head coach at North Carolina and been a defensive coordina-tor at Alabama, among other places.
ETSU was 2-9 in its first year back on the field and 5-6 last year, closing with an upset win over No. 18 Sam-ford.
He will join former Cougar Artevius Smith in Johnson City. Smith found playing time as a redshirt freshman, rushing nine times for 57 yards and catching four passes for 35 yards. He also returned five kickoffs for an 18.0 average and made 10 tackles. He started the final
two games of the regular season at wide receiver.
In Clayton’s tweet an-nouncing his commitment, he thanked his family and coaches who helped him get to the position of hav-ing a college football career. He also thanked the other schools and coaches who re-cruited him.
Other Cougars have picked up offers.
Running back Tony Gur-ley and quarterback/athlete Tyrese Sewell each received offers from Point Univer-sity, an NAIA school in West Point, Ga. Offensive lineman Eddie Rox picked up an offer from Campbell University, an FCS program
currently in the Pioneer Football League but moving to the Big South Conference in 2018.
The big target at Clay, Nico Collins, is still uncom-mitted. The wide receiver played in the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii on Satur-day. Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, Florida State and LSU are all in the running. He likely will not announce until signing day.
Pinson Valley cornerback Ty Woods picked up an offer from Division II Delta State of the Gulf South Confer-ence. Hewitt-Trussville line-backer Nicholas Jackson, the Huskies’ leading tackler for two straight seasons, col-lected an offer from North Alabama, currently Division II but about to embark upon a transitional period into FCS status in 2018. It will play football in the Big South while its other sports will be in the Atlantic Sun Con-ference. Linebacker Joshua Bailey and offensive line-man Chipper Lartigue each have offers from Minot State University in North Dakota. Former Husky teammate Kyle Miskelley plays for the DII school, which is in
a coaching search at present.Others have been commit-
ted for some time: RB/WR/DB Grayson Cash and DB David Acfalle to UAB and Noah Igbinoghene to Au-burn. Christian Smith, The Tribune’s Defensive Player of the Year, is still uncom-mitted. The big defensive
lineman has 11 offers from FBS to FCS schools, but the two-star prospect appears to have Illinois and Appala-chian State at the top of the list.
Quarterback Connor Adair has an offer from Gardner-Webb but is uncommitted.
By David KnoxSports Editor
Former Clay-Chalkville All-State wide receiver De-Andre Woods, who spent four seasons at Vanderbilt, will finish his career at Old Dominion University of Conference USA.
Woods announced his commitment with this mes-sage via Twitter: “The best parts of life aren’t planned.”
Woods, who is 6-3 and 238 pounds, was a three-year starter at Clay-Chalkville. As a senior, he
posted 51 receptions for 733 yards and nine TDs, Clay to a 12-2 record and the 6A semifinals. He was 6A All-State as a junior after posting 36 catches, good for 460 yards and 10 TDs. He became a starter as sophomore, hauling in 30 catches for nearly 400 yards and six TDs.
But at Vanderbilt, he couldn’t stay healthy. Inju-ries plagued his freshman year – he saw no playing time – and he got in four games as a sophomore. Woods converted to tight
end before the 2015 season and gave the Commodores a mismatch with his speed. Though he only caught sev-en passes before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the third game of the sea-son, he averaged 18.4 yards per reception thanks to a 43-yard catch. Last season, he played in just one game, against Auburn.
Woods said that is on track to graduate in May and would be eligible to play immediately and tech-nically, he has two years of eligibility remaining.
The Monarchs went 10-3 last season, beatings East-ern Michigan 24-20 in the Bahamas Bowl. Bobby Wilder is the head coach, but assistant coach Charles Bankins, who coaches run-ning backs and special teams, previously coached at Vandy.
Former Hewitt-Trussville star Bailey McElwain, now his ex-Vandy teammate, tweeted his congratulations on Woods’ new situation, as did many other players and Vandy fans.
Former Cougar Woods commits to Old Dominion
AP Photo
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Recruiting update as signing day draws near
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Page 14 December 16 — 22, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune
By Jeff ShearerAuburnTigers.com
AUBURN – First Austin Wiley settled down, then he started throwing down.
"I can't lie. I think I was overhyped, big-eyed out there." said Wiley, a fresh-man from Birmingham whose parents were both Auburn basketball stars. "I calmed myself down. My teammates did a good job of calming me down."
Wiley scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed 9 re-bounds, leading Auburn to an 84-64 win over Alabama Saturday at Auburn Arena.
"I really wanted to beat them," Wiley said. "I grew up in the rivalry. It was a hyped game. Just wanted to continue the legacy and beat Alabama. We played a great game today."
Wiley asserted his pres-ence, especially in the sec-ond half, getting to the free throw line 18 times, making 11, hauling down 5 offensive rebounds and playing a sea-son-high 25 minutes.
"Austin Wiley was an enormous difference," Au-burn coach Bruce Pearl said. "This game means a lot to Austin, coming from Bir-mingham, understanding the rivalry. This is a bragging rights thing for him, his dad
and his mom."Auburn (13-6, 3-4) has
won three of its last four SEC games. It was Auburn's third sellout (9,121) of the season, the 10th in Pearl's three sea-sons and the 15th in Auburn Arena history.
"The crowd was amaz-ing," Pearl said. "And this is the kind of atmosphere that we want for the Iron Bowl in basketball. And I know when we go up to Alabama in two weeks it's going to be rock-ing up there as well."
A pair of Wiley free throws gave Auburn its largest lead at the time, 42-36 nearly six minutes into the second half, before the Tigers endured a cold stretch that allowed Alabama to retake the lead.
Auburn continued to look inside, with Wiley delivering dunks and an assortment of low-post moves.
"We couldn't handle big Wiley inside," Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. "Give them credit for execut-ing better than we did."
Alabama (11-7, 4-2) came into the game outrebound-ing SEC opponents by more than 10. The Tigers battled the Crimson Tide evenly on the boards with each team grabbing 34.
"That's what (Coach Bruce Pearl) said at halftime," Wi-ley said. "'We've got to keep them off the boards and just
lock down defensively.' That's pretty much why we won."
Mustapha Heron scored 15 to reach double figures for the 19th game, extending his freshman record.
"It feels good helping my teammates, getting those looks for me, couple back-door plays. Just got some good looks," Heron said.
Heron's 3 and layup were part of a 10-2 run that gave Auburn a 7-point lead with 6:57 to play.
Heron's deep 3 with the shot clock running down gave Auburn a 13-point lead, 72-59, with 3:08 to play.
"It's just like any other rivalry. It's amped up, the crowd is into it," said Heron, who hit all 3 of his 3-point attempts. "I can't wait to go to Tuscaloosa and play."
Heron scored 10 points in a 22-7 Auburn run that broke open a tight game. He also had 5 rebounds.
Ronnie Johnson scored 17, his most points for Auburn. Johnson and freshman Jared Harper shared point guard duties, each playing 20 min-utes.
"It was a crazy environ-ment," Johnson said. "Some-thing like Indiana and Pur-due. I like that environment. Once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Wiley leads Auburn past Alabama in basketball's Iron Bowl
FULL COURT PRESSClass 7A, Area 7
Team
Gadsden CityGrissomHewitt-TrussvilleHuntsville
Record12-911-109-11
11-12
Class 6A, Area 12
Team
Clay-ChalkvillePinson ValleyCenter PointGardendale
Record
18-411-106-8
10-12
Varsity Boys
Class 7A, Area 7
Team
Gadsden CityHewitt-TrussvilleGrissomHuntsville
Record17-4
12-103-155-15
Class 6A, Area 12
Team
Clay-ChalkvilleCenter PointGardendalePinson Valley
Record
19-514-91-111-12
Varsity Girls
This Week:
Jan. 25Center Point @ MidfieldJan. 26Gardendale @ Pinson ValleyJan. 27Clay-Chalkville @ McAdoryPinson Valley @ Hewitt-TrussvilleJan. 30Woodlawn @ Center PointHewitt-Trussville @ Shades ValleyJan. 31Shades Valley @ Clay-ChalkvilleCenter Point @ Huffman
Looking Ahead:Feb. 2Hewitt-Trussville @ Vestavia Hills
Feb. 3Clay-Chalkville @ Mountain BrookCenter Point @ Hewitt-Trussville
Prep Basketball Schedule
NCAA BASKETBALL
CLASS 7A
1. Lee-Montgomery (21-1)2. Hoover (20-4)3. Mountain Brook (20-3)4. Auburn (16-6)5. Huffman (16-5)6. Smiths Station (17-4)7. McGill-Toolen (17-6)8. Central-Phenix City (13-4)9. Murphy (16-8)10. Spain Park (9-11)
Others nominated: Grissom (14-10), Jeff Davis (16-7), Sparkman (11-10).
CLASS 6A
1. Pelham (14-8)2. Helena (20-5)3. Austin (22-2)4. Daphne (21-2)5. Spanish Fort (16-6)6. Clay-Chalkville (18-3)7. LeFlore (21-3)8. Carver-Montgomery (12-6)9. Ramsay (13-9)10. Hazel Green (14-8)
Others nominated: Chelsea (15-8), Florence (17-3), Fort Payne (15-6), Muscle Shoals (11-7).
CLASS 7A
1. Sparkman (21-3)2. Hoover (19-6)3. McGill-Toolen (19-5)4. Central-Phenix City (17-3)5. Gadsden City (17-4)6. Spain Park (14-8)7. Tuscaloosa County (19-4)8. Auburn (15-6)9. Lee-Montgomery (12-12)10. Hewitt-Trussville (12-10)
Others nominated: Murphy (12-8), Oak Mountain (12-6), Thompson (14-9).
CLASS 6A
1. Hazel Green (26-1)2. Ramsay (15-4)3. Homewood (19-2)4. LeFlore (22-2)5. Athens (23-2)6. Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa (16-2)7. Clay-Chalkville (18-5)8. Northview (18-3)9. Southside-Gadsden (16-2)10. Brewer (19-2)
Others nominated: Blount (15-2), Center Point (15-9), Daphne (17-4), Hartselle (12-7), Opelika (14-5), Selma (18-1).
ASWA PREP BASKETBALL POLLSVarsity Boys
Varsity Girls