Mortimer Jordan ends season in first round

Published 12:10 pm Wednesday, February 17, 2016

KIMBERLY – Mortimer Jordan (20-11) delivered the first punch on Tuesday night, but Alexandria didn’t flinch and outlasted the home team in first round playoff action.

With a 55-52 road win over the Blue Devils in the Northeast Sub-Regionals, Alexandria is bound for Jacksonville State University – host site of the AHSAA Northeast Regional Tournament. The Valley Cubs will battle No. 1 J.O. Johnson in the second round.

“We played so well at the beginning and didn’t put them away,” said Mortimer Jordan head coach Daniel Foy.

After trailing throughout the opening half, the visitors doubled up Mortimer Jordan in the third frame to take a 40-38 lead into the final eight minutes of play. From there, Alexandria forward Luke Tucker did his best work, dropping six of his eight total points down the final stretch.

His ability to fight through contact and finish in the paint broke a 49-all deadlock with 1:56 remaining to give the Valley Cubs a permanent lead. Mortimer Jordan’s Sawyer Swindle found an open look from beyond the arc in the final seconds, but rattled out the equalizer.

Senior Colby Moon and the Blue Devils started the contest on fire from beyond the 3-point line, going 3-for-3 from that distance in the opening minutes. Two of those makes came from Moon, the second of which connected from the corner to give Mortimer Jordan a 9-2 advantage not three minutes into the game.

Moon bottomed his third triple of the night moments later from the top of the key, updating the score to 14-5 in favor of the home team. The senior led all scorers with 21 points.

“We were ready (to play), we made shots and jumped all over them, but they didn’t flinch and that’s a credit to them,” said Foy. “A lot of teams would’ve panicked in that situation, but they just came back and matched us.”

Alexandria’s Dalton Dodd had a lot to do with his team’s ability to weather that early storm. He didn’t hesitate to match Moon’s trio of 3-point makes in the first half and managed to survive the Area 11 champion’s offensive explosion.

Dodd led the Valley Cubs with 16 points. He got 11 points of help from Marcus Swink.

For Mortimer Jordan, Justin Anderson slashed his way to a ten-point outing while Swindle came through with nine of his own.

“If you haven’t been in a locker room in that situation, it’s hard to describe,” Foy said of his team’s post-game mood. “No matter how many years you do it; no matter how many times you have to say ‘goodbye’ to kids, it’s still tough every year.”