Sports Editor

Troy State men’s head basketball coach Don Maestri may eventually be able to talk Dothan’s Larry Brackins out of retirement.

But right now, the 6-6 senior is pretty confident that he’s played is last season of basketball.

"I think I’m going to hang it up after this year," said Brackins following Dothan’s 66-55 win over Opelika in the Class 6A Boys Southeast Regional at Troy State on Tuesday.

His coach, Jim Golden, isn’t so sure.

"That may be something that comes along down the line," said Golden about the chances of his star forward, who signed a football scholarship with Larry Blakeney’s Trojans’ football team two weeks ago, making a return to the hardcourt in college.

Brackins is projected as a wide receiver for the Trojans, should he meet eligibility requirements, but no doubt, Maestri would be able to find a place for him on the basketball team as well. Brackins pulled down 16 rebounds and scored 24 points against Opelika. The 16 rebound mark ties a Southeast Regional record for most in a game.

"For people who’s seen us play, I’m really playing without a post player," said Golden. "Larry is really a three (small forward) or four (power forward) man."

Brackins showed his ball handling skills when his head coach switched to a spread offense, hoping to slow the game down with Dothan up 55-44 and only four minutes remaining in the final period. Brackins dribbled around centercourt for a few seconds and then exploded to the basket for an above-the-rim dunk.

"The guy that was guarding me, he was a step slower, and I knew I had him off the dribble so I had to take advantage of that," Brackins said.

But Golden’s strategy didn’t pay off as well as he had hoped.

Opelika took advantage of several Dothan miscues and fought back to pull within three points of the lead, 58-55. With 1:55 left, Quay Holloway’s two-point basket and Ben Harris’ three-pointer kicked off a 9-0 run by the Bulldogs.

However, the Tigers held Opelika scoreless down the stretch and went six-of-six from the foul line.

Dothan moves on to face Central-Phenix City on Friday for the right to advance to Birmingham. The Red Devils defeated Selma in the other semifinal game, 65-55.

"I don’t know a whole lot about them (C-PC), but I know they’ve got a couple of great shooters," said Golden about Friday’s match-up. "They play good and they don’t think they can be beat. They’re real confident. We feel the same way so it ought to be a good ball game, we hope."

Jonathan Mathis, Chris Springfield and Adrian Folmar each scored 10 points for Dothan. Folmar also grabbed 10 boards.

Holloway had 16 points and Motavian Collier had a double-double as well for the Bulldogs. Collier scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds.

The No. 5 Tigers improve to 23-5. Opelika ends the season at 16-11.

Class 6A Girls

Carver 60

No. 10 Auburn 39

Carver-Montgomery got 12 points apiece from Kimberly Perry and Valencia Boswell as the the Lady Wolverines upset the tenth-ranked Tigers 50-39 in a

Class 6A Southeast Regional semifinal game.

Auburn shot just 35 percent from the free throw line, hitting just two of 13 attempts in the second half as Carver pulled away. The Lady Wolverines shot 80 percent from the foul line.

Trevesha Jackson led Auburn with 10 points.

Auburn ended the year 24-4.

No. 4 Jeff Davis 65

Selma 37

Fourth-ranked Jeff Davis used a 22-8 run in the second quarter to eliminate Selma from the Southeast Regional, 65-37.

The Lady Vols led 33-16 at the half.

Bridget Boykin led all scorers with 26 points in the game for JD. Jeff Davis shot 46 percent from the floor, while holding Selma to 29 percent shooting.

Marquita Green and Mallori Crockett had 10 points each, also for the Lady Vols.

Kim Wilson had 14 and Aryle Wilson added 13 for the Selma girls, who finished the season 20-9.

Jeff Davis improved to 27-6 with the win and moves on to face Carver (20-6) on Friday.

Class 6A Boys

No. 8 Central-Phenix City 65

No. 10 Selma 55

Central-Phenix City upped its record to 24-5 with a 65-55 win over No. 10 Selma on Tuesday.

The Saints led 21-9 after the first quarter, but the Red Devils came back in the second, outscoring Selma 21-12 and went into the locker room down by only three, 33-30.

Central took its first lead of the ball game on a two-pointer by Clarence Sanders with 4:24 to go in the third. The Red Devils then pushed that lead out to eight points as Jeff Tinkler’s three-point shot with 48 seconds left gave C-PC a 47-39 advantage.

The Saints would pull within three points of Central’s lead in the fourth quarter, 56-53, but with two minutes remaining, the Red Devils outscored Selma 9-2 to close the game.

Selma ended the season with a 19-9 record. Ben Obomanu led the Saints with 19 points and Jai Miller added 17.

Tinkler led Central with 19 points also. Montrice Brooks had 15 and Sanders had 13.

Class 1A Boys

G.W. Long

79

Edward Bell 70

Marcus Grubbs scored 23 points and Ronny Woods scored 26 points as G.W. Long beat Edward Bell 79-70 in a boys Class 1A Southeast Regional semifinal.

Long led 30-23 at halftime and then outscored Edward Bell 24-15 in the third quarter to take a 54-38 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Edward Bell responded with 32 points in final period of play, but couldn’t overtake the Rebels’ lead.

Larry Cooper had 19 points to lead Edward Bell. Jerosky Caldwell had 13 and Keon Gollate added 10.

Grubbs also grabbed 10 boards for Long , which improves to 21-5 overall. Edward Bell ends the year 20-9.

Class 1A Boys

No. 1 Pleasant Home 58

Reeltown 50

Author Coleman had 23 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Eagles to a 58-50 win over Reeltown.

Pleasant Home led by only two points with 1:48 left in the game, 52-50, but Reeltown picked up two technical fouls toward the end of the contest which helped the Eagles to put the game away at the foul line. PHS was up 53-50 when Joe Mack Hutcherson was charged with a personal and a tech for pushing Coleman. Coleman hit four straight foul shots, giving the Eagles a 57-50 lead with 17 seconds left.

Jon Gudson had 13 points also as the Eagles outrebounded the Rebels 43-31.

Jacques Pyant scored 24 to lead Reeltown. The Rebels finished the year 19-5.

PHS, the defending 1A state champions, improved to 24-4

 

Class 1A Girls

Loachapoka 52

G.W. Long 33

Loachapoka got double-digit efforts from Fredrica Hutchinson (13), Shay Smith (13) and Octavia Williams (12) as the Lady Indians rolled over G.W. Long 52-33.

The Indians used an 11-4 third quarter to take control of the ball game.

Shannon Newman had 20 points for the Lady Rebels.

No. 8 Notasulga 53

No. 7 J.F. Shields 44

Defending 1A state champs Notasulga opened the defense of its title with a 53-44 win over J.F. Shields.

Sisters Shaquita and Shanika Fields led the way for the Blue Devils. Shaquita Fields scored 15 points and Shanika Fields had a game-high 20. Shanya Hodges added 15 also for Notasulga, which improved to 15-4.

Tameka Knight had 18 and Quantus Jones had 17 points to lead J.F. Shields. The Lady Panthers concluded their year at 23-3.