Boys basketball: Pinson Valley 62, Gardendale 60
For Pinson Valley, it was, “Hale, Yes!”
For Gardendale, it was, “Oh, Hale!”
Cornell Hale’s 3-pointer at the buzzer lifted the host Indians to a 62-60 heart-stopping victory over the Rockets, in Monday night’s boys basketball regular-season finale.
Both teams battled bucket by bucket the whole way, with the lead never more than two points after the end of any period. But the climax came with 4.8 seconds left to play, with the Tribe having the ball out of bounds under the basket.
The ball came out to Hale, who sank the bucket from outside the arc as the horn sounded to steal the win.
Hale led Pinson with 21 points, followed closely by Donevan Waldrop with 20. The Indians were 13-for-16 (81 percent) at the foul line, a distinct improvement on free throw shooting woes that have plagued the squad all season.
Juan Jackson, Jay Brooks and Austin Hicks paced Gardendale with 13 points each.
Both teams move into Class 6A area tournaments on Thursday night. The Indians, 10-19 overall but winners of four of their last five games, play Center Point at Clay-Chalkville at 6 p.m. Gardendale (16-14) plays Woodlawn at Huffman, tipping off at 7:30.
Jared Holloway contributed to this report.