By Justin Hogan
LEEDS, AL. – FEB. 08. The Leeds Boys Varsity Basketball team topped the Altamont Knights, the home team, 43-33 on Monday night to claim the area nine tournament trophy and a spot in the state championship playoffs. Josh Abercrombie, who had eleven points and nine rebounds, scored the first basket of the game for Leeds and the Greenwave never trailed after that. Defensive rebounds made the difference in the low scoring affair, with Leeds closing off easy shooting lanes and snagging Altamont’s subsequent misses. On offense Leeds utilized their speed and passing skills to get to the basket.
Defense was clearly the name of the game; the halftime score, 18-6 Leeds, looked like the first quarter of many basketball games. According to Leeds’ Head Coach Ashley Allen, this was all part of the plan. “We average about fifty to sixty points per game,” Allen said, “but I knew we weren’t going to score that much because we were trying to hold the ball and take control of the speed of the game.”
Leeds continued to hold the lead through the second half and the third period was no contest. The fourth period wasn’t as comfortable for Leeds. With two and a half minutes left Altamont edged within five points by sinking several big three pointers. That was okay with Allen. “We gave up the three because we didn’t want Jamal Taylor to go off on us. He’s been doing pretty good, averaging about twenty points against us.” Taylor would not achieve that average and Leeds pulled away to a ten point victory.
The game became a little heated in the second half, with three technical fouls being assessed; one against Leeds and two against Altamont. The fans of both teams were vocal about their displeasure for the technicals and booing could be heard from the home crowd when Leeds was presented the trophy. Allen said he expected that kind of game with the Knights. “It never is (a friendly game),” he told the Herald. “We have some bad blood between us but that makes the game better to me.” Allen noted he was proud of the team for playing with class and keeping it clean. Allen has spoken to the Herald throughout the season about the importance of these young men learning life lessons and integrity even under adversarial conditions.
The Greenwave Basketball Team Poses With Area Nine Trophy, and Buckner's MVP Award.
Tarique Reeves, with fourteen points and eleven rebounds, and Josh Abercrombie with 11 points and 9 rebounds were the leading scorers for Leeds. Mark Buckner was named the game’s MVP, doing a stellar job of moving the ball to the basket and passing it to his team mates.
Leeds moves on the sub-regionals taking on Glencoe this Friday night at 7:00 p.m. at the Leeds High gym.
