Holly Pond's Ruth Horton is fouled while splitting a pair of Scottsboro defenders on Thursday. Horton had six 3's and 25 points in the Lady Broncos' 52-40 loss. 

HOLLY POND — Mitch Morris got exactly what he wanted, and expected, out of Thursday’s regular season finale against Scottsboro.

Holly Pond’s 62-50 win didn’t always come easy, but it did eventually come — and that made for one rather content coach.

“I was hoping we would get a real tough game from them, and we did,” Morris said. “We had some runs. Had some lulls. Let them catch back up, in every quarter. But we stepped up in the last four minutes of that ballgame and took control of it, defensively and offensively.”

The Class 3A Broncos (20-6) seized the lead for good on a Dawson Foust drive about two minutes into the fourth quarter. Scottsboro was assessed a technical shortly thereafter, and that was only the start of the snowball for the 6A Wildcats.

Drew Jones, Griffin Morris and Dylan Basenburg proceeded to team up on a 17-6 tear to wrap up the victory for the home squad.

Jones finished with a game-high 24 points, while Caleb Jones chipped in four treys and 18 points. Morris shook off heavy contact under the basket for his first score in the closing seconds of the third quarter and wound up with nine points.

Foust (eight points), Basenburg (two) and Matt Cahoon (one) rounded out Holly Pond’s offensive contributors.

The Broncos have admittedly struggled to play like themselves for awhile now. In their defense, they haven’t exactly been themselves.

Not with Bailey Smith, who Drew Jones called “one of the best (point guards) in the state,” shelved since early January with a back injury.

Considering the circumstances, Jones felt Thursday’s team effort was definitely a step in the right direction.

“That’s huge for us,” he said. “Griffin’s stepping up, Matt’s stepping up, Caleb’s stepping up, we’ve got bench players stepping up, so it’s going good for us right now.”

Malik Talley led Scottsboro with 14 points. Three came on a sweet swish from long range at the halftime buzzer.

“It was good to see our boys play tough, get pushed around a little bit,” coach Morris said. “We made some big plays when we needed to. I’m really hoping that that’s going to help us next week in our area tournament and as far as we can go with it.”

So just how far does Holly Pond plan to go?

The end goal, according to Morris, is and always will be Birmingham.

As for the short term?

“We can’t look past our area tournament,” the coach said. “We’ve got to deal with Hanceville. They’re a good team. They’ve probably got some time to rest a little bit and get people healthy, get their wind. They’re going to come out ready to play, so we’re going to have to be ready to go.”

As Area 10’s top seed, the Broncos will stay home to host Susan Moore next Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. The tourney championship is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

“We just got this big win over Scottsboro, and we’re going into area very confident, so I’m liking our chances,” Jones said.

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Varsity Girls

Scottsboro 52, Holly Pond 40

Ruth Horton ripped off 25 points — including 19 and five of her six 3’s in the first half — and Melissa Clingman pitched in 11, but that was about the extent of the Lady Broncos’ offense.

The 3A No. 9 Green and White (18-10) didn’t sink a second-half field goal until 37 seconds were left in the third quarter and waited until well into the fourth frame to do so again in a game the Wildcats controlled over the last 16 minutes.

“A lot of that had to do with their defense,” Holly Pond coach Scott Adams said. “They’re a physical team. They’re an athletic team. While skill-wise, I think we compete with them, on just the sheer strength on defense and rebounding ability, we struggle.”

Molly Gambrill was Holly Pond’s only other scorer with four points.

Tisina Woods and Charleigh Bailey topped Scottsboro with 13 points apiece. Janez Branford had 12.

“Ruth got really hot for us and kept us in the game, gave us a chance, but nobody else really got going. I think she might’ve been the only one who hit a 3 tonight,” Adams said. “When that happens, then it’s too easy to guard. Then, they started keeping Melissa out of the paint. When you keep Melissa out of the paint and you guard Ruth well, then it’s hard for us to score.

“But I thought the effort was really good. They’re a good basketball team. It’s good for us going into area.”

With Holly Pond securing both No. 1 seeds, the Lady Broncos will co-host the Area 10 Tournament and share the same dates as the boys. The Green and White will get going versus Vinemont Tuesday at 7 p.m. The title tilt is slated for Thursday at 6 p.m.

“With our girls right now, we were so disappointed after the county tournament,” Adams said. “But we’re just going to play the best basketball we can play. That’s the only thing we can do. The girls have had a wonderful attitude, they get along great, they’ve been very loyal, they’ve worked very hard. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

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JV Boys

Holly Pond 48, Scottsboro 45

The Broncos’ county-championship campaign was capped off in crazy fashion Thursday inside Felton Easterwood Gymnasium.

Tanner Duke hoisted a prayer from a good bit behind the arc with a defender in his face and banked it in at the buzzer to send his squad into the offseason on the highest of notes.

“Not the way we drew it up,” Holly Pond coach Bob Kusz said with a smile, “but we’ll take it.”

The game-winning shot pushed Duke’s point total to 19. Jake Harris was hot on his heels with 16. McKinley Garrett (six points), Devyn Tankersley (five) and Tyler Cone (two) also scored for the Broncos.