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Oak Mountain was able to take down Thompson in a battle of 1-1 area teams to take possession of second place in area play. (Reporter photo/Keith McCoy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

NORTH SHELBY – The Oak Mountain boys basketball team has shown it can compete with the best teams this season, and on Tuesday, Jan. 15, the Eagles proved they could beat the best as well.

The deepest team in the county, and possibly the most talented boys team, Oak Mountain was able to use a strong defensive effort and impressive ball movement to build a 20-point advantage against Thompson before hanging on for a 53-44 area victory.

The Eagles are now 2-1 in area play with that lone loss coming in a close game against Hoover that OMHS led throughout, while Thompson fell to 1-2 in area play with the two losses to the Bucs and Eagles. 

A torrid defensive pace by both teams was set early on in the game with Oak Mountain (15-7, 2-1) hounding Thompson (16-7, 1-2) and the Warriors using a strong half-court trap.

It led to each team having to work harder to in the front court to run its offense, but the Eagles were able to find a few scoring gaps in the opening quarter thanks to a layup from Antheny Carey, a 3-pointer from Noah Young and a steal and layup from Zane Nelson, as Oak Mountain showed its depth early in the game with a 7-0 run.

After Young hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter and Nelson another layup, the Eagles were eventually able to take a 14-6 lead at the end of the opening frame as Thompson’s offense was unable to knock down any big shots.

Oak Mountain quickly extended that lead to 10 points off a layup from Carey early in the second quarter, but Thompson answered back with a big 7-0 run.

That run came due to a Chaney Johnson 3-pointer and a steal by Tre Roberson that led to a fast break and a beautiful pass to J.B. Mitchell for a layup that made the score 16-13.

From that point on there was very little offensive production, and what little scoring did happen was all from the Eagles, who ended the quarter on a 4-0 run thanks to another layup from Carey and a post move from Will Shaver to take a 20-13 advantage into the half.

Trailing by seven points, Thompson had kept within touch of the Eagles, but Oak Mountain was finding ways to score, while the Warriors were struggling to find enough points.

That trend continued into the second half and got an emphatic start when Drew Dunn knocked down a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to extend Oak Mountain’s lead back to 10 points at 23-13.

After Thompson cut the deficit to eight points, Dunn hit another 3-pointer to give Oak Mountain its largest lead of the game.

AJ Bonham answered with a big 3-pointer of his own on the ensuing Warriors’ possession, but from that point forward, Oak Mountain was able to control the remainder of the quarter.

The highlight was a drive by Evan Smith before kicking a no-look pass to Carey for an emphatic two-handed dunk to put the Eagles up by 15 points at 37-22. They added two more free throws from Nelson to make it a 39-22 lead at the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter eventually saw the Eagles extend the lead all the way up to 20 points at 47-27, but Thompson still had some fight left in it.

Thanks to a layup and back-to-back inbound pass steals, the Warriors were able to make three layups in less than 10 seconds to cut that deficit to 14 points with 3:46 to play.

That eventually became 12 points with 1:27 left and 10 points with 38.7 left, as the Warriors never quit and had cut Oak Mountain’s lead to 50-40.

Thompson eventually clawed back within nine points at 51-42, but with 17.2 seconds left, time wasn’t on the Warriors’ side, as Oak Mountain closed out the area victory by a final score of 53-44.

Photos available at Shelbycountyphotos.com

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