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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – In a battle of U.S. 280 area rivals and former area foes, the Oak Mountain Eagles powered past the Spain Park Jaguars to grab an early season victory.

Oak Mountain defeated Spain Park 66-49 on Thursday, Nov. 21 at Oak Mountain High School to keep the Eagles’ strong start to the season going.

Both teams came out of the gate fairly evenly matched as only a point separated the sides going into the second quarter. The two offenses combined for 27 points as Chase Lamey and Will Patterson stepped up in Chris Kunard’s absence with multiple first-quarter field goals.

As for the Jags, they continued their balanced, deep-ball heavy approach to keep pace with Oak Mountain, but the Eagles held a 14-13 lead after the first quarter of play.

That tight nature wouldn’t last as Oak Mountain kicked into another gear on both ends of the court.

Will O’Dell and Patterson led the charge for a 29-point second quarter along with 3-pointers from Patton Knight and Rocco Plaia.

The Eagles defense flipped the script and held Spain Park scoreless from deep and just six more points before halftime.

That gave Oak Mountain a 42-19 lead that it would not relinquish down the stretch.

Lamey and Patterson kept the Eagles offense going in the third quarter with a pair of baskets from the field for each of them.

The Jags rediscovered their deep shooting form, going 3-for-5 from behind the arc during the third quarter.

Oak Mountain extended its lead by eight to 60-29 to end the third quarter and continue to establish its hold on the game.

Spain Park flipped the momentum late thanks to a big shooting performance from Riley Kent, who after scoring five points in the first three quarters combined had 11 points in the fourth, giving him a team-high 16 points.

However, it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit and the Eagles held on for the 17-point victory.

Three different Oak Mountain players got into double figures as Patterson led all scorers with 20 points, Lamey had 12 points and O’Dell scored 10 points. Plaia added eight points for the Eagles in the win.

As for the Jags, other than Kent’s 16-point performance, Garrett Gorman scored seven points and William Fixler had five points.