Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVER – The DJ Black era at Spain Park is off to a strong start after the Jags defeated Class 4A local foe Indian Springs 69-37 on Thursday, Nov. 7 at Spain Park High School.

The win in the opener gave Black the first win at Spain Park after taking over for Chris Laatsch over the offseason.

The Jags started the game with a balanced scoring effort with Jonathan Fonbah’s four points leading the way for seven different scorers in the opening quarter.

That helped the hosts outpace Dylan Heald’s five-point quarter from Springs as the lead sat at 19-5 after the first quarter.

Spain Park doubled its total in the second quarter with another 19 points as Walker Coxhead scored six points and Riley Kent had a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws.

Indian Springs cut into the deficit with four more points from Heald and 3-pointers from Long Truong and Max Marlestein, making the Jags’ halftime lead 38-17.

Spain Park continued working to build on its 21-point halftime advantage as Kent added seven points to get himself into double figures and Tommy Morrison scored four points.

While Heald and Ben Sinms went a combined 6-of-6 at the free throw line for Springs, the Jags had 17 points in the third to pull away to a 55-28 lead, which kept Spain Park out of reach.

The Jags then let their bench get involved with the game in hand. Six different Spain Park players scored a field goal in the fourth quarter, which kept the hosts comfortably in front.

In the end, the Jags walked away with a 32-point victory to start out the year in the win column.

Kent led the way with 15 points for Spain Park while Coxhead had 12 points and Morrison and Fonbah each had eight points apiece. Blevins also earned six points in the victory.

As for Indian Springs, Heald scored a game-high 17 points as he carried the load for his team. Sinms had 10 points with eight coming off free throws.

The Jags will be back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 12 with a road trip to Vestavia Hills to face the Rebels at 7 p.m.

Springs will have a quick turnaround as it will play another county foe, the Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights, on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:15 p.m. at Berry Middle School. That will be followed by a short road trip to the Briarwood Christian Lions on Monday, Nov. 11 at 6:15 p.m.