SPARTANS ROLL IN BATTLE OF UNBEATENS

Trendon Watford scored 24 points as Class 7A top-ranked Mountain Brook beat 6A No. 2 Austin 65-33 in the AL.Com Classic semifinals tonight at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. The Spartans (17-0) will play 5A No. 1 Mae Jemison in the championship game at 7 p.m. Thursday. Watford also pulled down 12 rebounds, blocked two shots, altered at least five more and dished out three assists. Fabian Bell led Class 6A, No. 2 Austin (15-1) with 13 points, including 2-of-3 treys. Mountain Brook did a tremendous job defending Austin's key players. Cat-quick point guard Jason Scott only scored four points. Anthony Mason, a 6-foot-9 center, was held scoreless while hampered by a tender ankle he injured during in the quarterfinals against Madison Academy on Tuesday. Personal fouls also stymied the Black Bears as Josh Birdsong was plagued with four fouls and Malieq Senior played with three. Watford controlled the game from the opening tip. His dunk increased the Spartans' lead to 12-4 with 3:10 remaining in the first quarter. Bell's steal and layup cut the Spartans lead to 13-7 at the end of the first quarter. Mason picks up his second foul with 6:30 remaining in second quarter. Alex Washington's trey put the Spartans ahead at halftime 31-17. Mountain Brook outscored Austin 34-16 to pull away in the second half. Sean Elmore added 13 points for Mountain Brook, which hit nine 3-pointers. Austin also got 10 points from Troy signee Javan Johnson. Austin beat La Vergne (Tenn.) 63-54 and Madison Academy 70-61 to advance to the semifinals. Mountain Brook beat Madison County 85-28 and Sparkman 59-47. The Black Bears will play James Clemens in the third-place game at 5 p.m. Thursday at the VBC. Star of the game: Watford, the talented five-star sophomore forward, showed why Alabama, Auburn and a host of other Division I schools are recruiting him. He intimidated the Black Bears in the paint and had several dazzling assists as Austin tried to double-team him. Play of the game: Scott's put-back to begin the second quarter cut the Spartans lead to only 13-9 after trailing by as many as eight points early. But Watford scored six points in three minutes to increase the Spartans' lead to 25-13 and Mountain Brook never looked back. Stat sheet: 19 – Rebounding was the key as Mountain Brook outrebounded Austin by 35 to 16; 6 – Scott is the Austin quarterback but he had an uncharacteristic six turnovers, three on fast breaks; 17 and 20 – Both teams played sloppy at times, as Mountain Brook lost 20 turnovers and Austin gave up 17; 4 – The Spartans defense didn't let up in the fourth quarter as it only allowed Austin to score two field goals. Coachspeak:”You find out a lot about your team in games like this. Everything we're doing now is to get ready for February. Anthony Mason hurt himself yesterday and he tried to give it a go but couldn't play like we wanted him too. They stopped us from getting on the glass. They hemmed us up and created some 'help situations' for us. Fabian Bell really competed tonight and Javan Johnson competed against a tough front line. The season has been great so far because we have great kids. Our kids were competing but they just couldn't make plays tonight. Basketball's a marathon not a sprint. We've had a great run, but we've reached a plateau. Now it's time to refocus.” - Austin coach Jake Miles

SPARTANS ROLL IN BATTLE OF UNBEATENS

Photo Credit: Bob Gathany