Gardendale head coach Bill Griffin has the Rockets closing in on another tournament title.

Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



ONEONTA — The Gardendale Rockets took the first two steps to repeating as the champions of the Oneonta Boy’s Christmas tournament, as they topped Locust Fork on the tourney’s opening day and reached the semi-finals by whipping Saks. The championship game is set for 8:30 p.m. Saturday.



Gardendale 81,

Locust Fork 56

The Rockets raced to a 23-12 lead after one quarter.

Drew Faile led the fast start with six points. He also had two first quarter steals that lead to easy baskets.

In the second quarter, after Locust Fork closed the gap to 10 points, the Rocket’s Nigel Ramsey grabbed a rebound and passed off to Trey Hilliard on the break.

Ramsey then took a pass back from Hilliard in the left corner and sank a jump shot.

After the Locust Fork inbound pass, Ramsey stole the ball and drove for an easy lay up. With 1:39 to play in the first half, Ramsey sank both ends of a one-and-one foul situation.

Hunter Graveman then added two free throws with just 20 seconds left in the half, building the lead to 44-29.

Ramsey led the Rockets with a game-high 27 points. He also handed out six assists.

Faile finished with 14 points, three steals and two assists. Zac Davis had 11 points and five rebounds. Graveman scored 10 and passed off for seven assists.

The Rockets improved to 9-3 overall.



Oneonta tournament

Second round

Gardendale 66,

Saks 53

The Rockets moved into the semi-finals with their 10th win of the season.

Ramsey and Graveman scored 15 points each, followed by Davis with 10 points and Faile with nine.

Ramsey grabbed seven rebounds and had seven assists. Faile grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Rockets. The Rockets played Boaz in a late game Friday to see who would reach the final.



Moody girl’s tournament

Mortimer Jordan 56,

St. Clair County 47

The Lady Blue Devils reached the championship game of the Moody girl’s tournament with a come from behind win over St. Clair County on Friday night.

Jordan (9-2) trailed 16-5 after one quarter, but went on a 22-11 run to tie the game at 27-all at the half. A 15-4 run in the third quarter allowed the Lady Devils to pull away.

Peyton Davis scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, Ashlee Porter scored nine, grabbed 10 rebounds and passed off eight assists, Brianna Nation scored 15 and grabbed 10 rebounds, Consuela Austin scored three and Ashley Merritt scored one.



Mortimer Jordan 46,

Ragland 31

The Lady Devils won on Thursday night behind three double-digit scorers. Nation scored 14, followed by Shea Bowman with 12 and Merritt with 11. Porter had three points and seven assists and Davis scored six and controlled the glass with 15 rebounds.



Moody boy’s tournament

Mortimer Jordan 58,

Hayden 50

The Blue Devils won with a second half surge.

“Hayden did a real good job of getting after us,” Mortimer Jordan head coach Mike Dutton said. “We played well in the second half and pushed the ball better, but you have to credit Hayden for making it such a tough game.”

Brent Nation led Jordan with a game-high 13 points, followed by Ceasar Bell with 11, Joey Payton with 10, Desmond Brown and John “Jabo” Burrow with six, Nathan McIntosh had four, Clint Brown had three, Andrew Burden and Josh Vaughn had two each and Ryan Densmore had one.

Nick Burton scored 12 to led Hayden (5-8), followed by Josh Piteo with 10, Nick Hardy and Owen Hargett with six each, Ben Curry with five, Ryan Davis with four, Terrell Parker with three, Cody Butler and two and Sean Davis and Matt Stewart scored one point each.

Jordan moves within one victory of winning the round-robin tournament.



Mortimer Jordan 63,

Ragland 52

The Blue Devils won their tourney opener behind the play of Payton, who had a game-high 23 points.

McIntosh added 11 points for the winners and Ceasar Bell scored seven points and grabbed nine rebounds. Mortimer Jordan improved to 4-6 overall.



Moody 58,

Hayden 33

The Wildcats slipped to 5-7 as they fell to the tourney hosts. Hargett and Curry scored six each, Stewart had five, Ryan Davis, Piteo and Hardy had four each and Sean Davis and Burton scored two points each.



Hayden girls tournament

Arab 50,

Corner 41

Corner slipped to 6-6 as they fell into the loser’s bracket at the Hayden girls tournament. Nicole Russell led the way with 16 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Kourtney Sloan scored five, Ashley Tolbert, Mandy Slatton and Elizabeth Allred scored four points each. Haley Anderson scored three points, Heather Anderson and Shannon Tolbert scored two each and Erin Tingle scored one.



Hayden girls tournament

Hayden 59,

Appalachian 30

The Lady Wildcats moved into the tourney semi-finals behind a big first half, as they opened a 33-14 lead at the break.

“We applied a lot of pressure in the first half,” Hayden head coach John Simmons said. “They had problems with our press and that was pretty much the story of the game.”

Mallory Ray led Hayden (7-5) as she scored 15, followed by Kirsta Stricklin with 14, Sam Nibblett with 11, Terri Sharp with six, Shauna Bryant with four, Kris Quick had three, Haley Daniel and Melissa Stricklin scored two each and Tiffany Myrick scored one point.

Nibblett had nine rebounds, Sharp had eight and Melissa Stricklin had six. Krista Stricklin had five steals and five assists. Myrick had three blocked shots.