By Erik Harris
PINSON — Hewitt-Trussville sophomore Harrison Stanley matched his jersey number with 24 points to lead the Huskies past Pinson Valley, 71-61, in a gym named after his head coach Mike Dutton.
With the win, Hewitt-Trussville advances to 1-1 on the season. Head coach Clint Argo and the Indians fall to 0-1.
“I felt reel good about our effort all night,” Dutton said. “I thought we ran our break at times exceptionally well. I thought at times we played defense exceptionally well.”
Hewitt-Trussville varsity boys basketball coach Mike Dutton
file photo by Ron Burkett
Pinson Valley trailed most of the night, but made a late push to pull within six with just under two minutes remaining in the game. The visitors responded by going a perfect three-for-three from the floor to kill the rally and march to their first win of the young season.
“We have 10 guys that this is there first varsity game ever and for them to improve as much as they did from Monday night is really encouraging,” Dutton said.
Junior center Joseph Williams got the Husky surge started with a one-handed dunk right in front of the Pinson Valley student section. On the other end, Williams blocked a hurried attempt that led to a Josh Monski basket.
Monski later made one of two from the charity stripe before Stanley scored the last of his nine buckets to put the game to bed.
Hewitt-Trussville’s early success was due in large part to its relentless work of the glass. The Huskies nabbed 26 first-half boards that set the tone for the rest of the night.
Pinson Valley guard Donevan Waldrop delivered many of the Indians’ counter punches that made things interesting late. He finished with a team-high 17 points, but shot only 26 percent. Cornell Hale was the only other Indian to reach double digits with 13 points.
