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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Oak Mountain Eagles brushed off their first defeat of the 2024-25 season with a victory in dominant fashion.

Oak Mountain defeated the Gardendale Rockets 83-58 on Friday, Dec. 13 at Oak Mountain High School to improve to 13-1 on the season.

The Eagles offense got off to a strong start, particularly from deep as Chase Lamey hit a pair of 3-pointers and Patton Knight added one as well. Rocco Plaia also knocked down a pair of field goals to help Oak Mountain outpace Gardendale early and take a 19-15 lead into the second quarter.

That paved the way for the Eagles to hit a second gear in the second quarter.

Oak Mountain added 22 more points before the halftime break with Chris Kunard scoring his first six points of the game, Will O’Dell securing five points, including his first 3-pointer of the night, and Will Patterson scoring four points to give him six for the half.

As a result, the Eagles outscored the Rockets 22-14 in the second quarter and led 41-29 at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, Kunard took over in the third quarter, going 6-for-6 from the field to score 12 points during that span and get into double figures for the game. He led six different scorers for Oak Mountain who combined for 26 points in the third.

On the other end of the floor, the Eagles defense locked in for its best effort of the game, surrendering just nine points to Gardendale during the third to increase the lead to 67-38 ahead of the fourth quarter.

Oak Mountain continued to find the bottom of the net in the fourth, most notably with six points from Knight to get him into double figures, but the Rockets worked to cut into the nearly 30-point deficit in the remaining time in the game.

Gardendale scored 20 points in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to completely close the gap, sealing the 25-point win for the Eagles to put them back on track.

Kunard led Oak Mountain with 20 points, his highest point total since returning from an extended absence. Four other Eagles had double-digit scoring nights as Knight dropped 14 points, Lamey posted 13 points and Patterson scored 10 points.

In addition, Plaia had eight points, Will Hartsfield earned six points and O’Dell finished with five points, all of which came in the second quarter.

Oak Mountain’s next game will be on the road at Hueytown on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m.