By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE — This was a rivalry game. Hewitt-Trussville and Clay-Chalkville, seven minutes apart, 3.4 miles — even closer as the crow flies — met in a game marked by tough defense and hard fouls and marred by at least three technicals.
Hewitt-Trussville’s Emeka Anwah and Clay-Chalkville’s Kevin Kirk get set for tip-off to start the Huskies-Cougars game on Friday, February 4, 2022. (Photo by Bobby Mathews)
The final score is almost unimportant, but for the record: Hewitt-Trussville hung on to win, 48-43. But the game was important not just for the winners and losers: The reconvening of a traditional rivalry between schools and student-athletes who know one another well is the real takeaway.
Clay-Chalkville came into Bryant Bank Arena ready to make a statement. The Cougars staked themselves to an early 5-0 lead and held the Huskies scoreless for the first five minutes of the game, eventually taking a 12-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The win saw the Huskies playing their best ball of the season late in the game.
“I feel like all year we’ve been really close,” Hewitt-Trussville head coach Jeff Baker said after the win. “You’d laugh at that, but there have been a lot of scores where we’ve been pretty close. And we’re pretty young for 7A basketball. We play a sophomore and four juniors a lot, so I think just growing up has helped us. I thought our sophomore, Reid Stodghill was really big in the fourth quarter. It’s a work in progress, but if you see growth all the time, that’s what you want.”
The Huskies battled back in that first half, taking their first lead when Ray Rolley converted a pair of free-throws to give Hewitt-Trussville a 13-12 advantage with 5:12 to go in the first half.
Jaylen Hudson gave the Cougars back the lead, 20-18, with a short shot in traffic late in the first half, and Clay-Chalkville had a chance to extend that lead when Davon Cheatham got a steal and went coast-to-coast. He slipped while trying to avoid Rolley, however, and turned the ball over.
At the break, it was 20-18 for the Cougars behind Hudson, who led all scorers in the game with 18 points.
“Jalen Hudson, he’s a senior on this group, and he has bought into everything I’ve told him since the day I walked into Clay-Chalkville,” Cougars’ first-year head coach Chris Richardson said afterward. “He’s a great kid, and he’s going to be a great person in life. He gives me his all.”
The Cougars kept the Huskies off-balance by incorporating a full-court press during parts of the game.
“We wanted to pick-and-choose when we used it, and I think it worked to a degree,” Richardson said. “It got us enough steals, but we turned the ball over too much offensively.”
In the second half, Hewitt-Trussville came out swinging, energized by a three-pointer by Legion Gaston and a Rolley layup off of a Karnell Smith steal. Just like that, Hewitt Had a 26-22 lead. The Huskies wouldn’t trail again in the game.
The third quarter was marred by a double technical foul — one on each team — and Hudson kept the Cougars close by hitting a trey near the end of the period to make it 31-26, Hewitt-Trussville.
The Cougars went into the fourth needing defensive stops, but they couldn’t get them consistently as Emeka Anwah, Gaston and Rolley were able to consistently score.
The Huskies’ Tyler Blake stepped up to hit a three-pointer late that was an absolute dagger the the heart of the Cougars’ comeback hopes, putting Hewitt-Trussville up 40-35 and forcing Clay-Chalkville to foul.
In the end, the Huskies held on for the five-point win, 48-43.
Reid Stodghill led the Huskies with 12 points, while Rolley and Gaston each had 10.
Hudson led all scorers with 18 points,While KJ Kirk had 5, and CJ Dixon and Jaquez Marshall each chipped in 4 for the Cougars.
