Photo: Glencoe’s Garrett Morgan splits a pair of Fyffe defenders on the way to a layup during the Yellow Jackets’ 75-63 victory in the Class 3A Northeast Regional basketball semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at Jacksonville State. (Courtesy of Alex Chaney)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher
For the first time since the 2002 season, the Glencoe boys basketball team made it to the Elite Eight in postseason play.
The Yellow Jackets (24-7) saved their best for last against Fyffe in the Class 3A Northeast Regional semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 12. Entering the fourth quarter with a four-point lead, Glencoe outscored the Red Devils 27 to 19 over the final eight minutes on the way to a 75-63 victory at Jacksonville State.
The Yellow Jackets will play Piedmont for t
he regional championship on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 10:45 p.m.
After Brady Willingham’s three-point basket 45 seconds into the fourth quarter trimmed the Glencoe lead to52-49, the Yellow Jackets embarked on a 16-0 run that featured eight points from Jayden Patton, who ended up scoring 10 of his 21 points during the final period.
The Red Devils (18-14) failed to mount a comeback following the Yellow Jackets’ scoring spurt, never getting within 12 points the rest of the way.
Glencoe wound up with a 14-0 advantage in second-chance points during the fourth quarter and 23 to 6 margin overall. The Yellow Jackets also had a 15 to 6 edge in points off turnovers.
“I think we did a good job of playing with the lead for most of the game and protecting the ball,” said Glencoe head coach Ryan Chambless. “Except for late in the game, we also did a good job at the free throw line (Glencoe shot 54 percent to Piedmont’s 57 percent). We also did a good job of rebounding while keeping [Fyffe] to a lot of one-shot possessions. Fyffe’s a pretty big team, but I thought we matched up pretty well with them.”
Also for Glencoe, Garrett Morgan had 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Wade Segrest added 11 points, while Grant Smith contributed a double-doble of 13 points and 12 rebounds.
“I thought we did a good job of keeping (Piedmont’s Cooper Cox) in check, but (Isaac Slaton) played really well,” said Chambless.
Slaton and Cox finished with 24 and 15 points, respectively.
The Yellow Jackets know Piedmont all too well, having played the Bulldogs three times this season. Glencoe lost the first two games, 73-71 and 72-68, before posting a 63-56 victory in the area tournament championship.
“If you want to go anywhere in the playoffs, you have to be challenged on a regular basis,” said Chambless. “We’ve played a really tough schedule all year long, which prepared us for games like this one and the game against [Piedmont]. It will come down scoring and guarding and making a few more plays that they do.”
