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Fourth-ranked Lee too much for Russellville in sub-regional rout

RUSSELLVILLE - On the night of Friday, January 27, Russellville coach Patrick Odom and his assistants made the drive to Huntsville to watch Lee High School host Mae Jemison in a Class 5A showdown. Odom and company, scouting in advance of a potential sub-regional matchup two weeks down the line, paid particular attention to the fourth-ranked Generals, who projected as the likely runner-up to the top-ranked Jaguars in Area 15.

“I remember it was pretty quiet when we got back in the car,” Odom said of the trip home that night following Jemison’s 74-70 win. “Nobody was saying very much. Then Coach [Tim] Townley spoke up. He said, ‘When you go scout somebody, you’re looking for two things—how do we attack ‘em, and how do we defend ‘em?’

“Then he just looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I don’t have anything for you.’”

Over the course of the intervening 17 days, the Golden Tigers took care of business on their end, rallying past Lawrence County and then holding off East Limestone to win the Area 16 title and earn a sub-regional game at home. With regard to Lee, however, no magic formula materialized. Russellville needed the Generals and their star players—6’3 senior guard Malik Burnett, a Troy signee, and 6’7 sophomore wing Kobe Brown, a four-star prospect with Division I offers already numbering upwards of 25—to have an off night.

They didn’t.

Brown poured in 21 of his game-high 27 points in the first half on Tuesday night, and Burnett finished with 24 as Lee rolled to an 89-49 rout at the RMS gym, clinching a spot in next Monday’s Northwest Regional semifinals.

Russellville (18-8) had a 7-4 lead after a couple of early buckets by senior big man Austin Stidham, but the Generals (15-14) quickly took control with a 16-0 run—during which Brown and Burnett scored eight points apiece and the Golden Tigers struggled to take care of the ball against Lee’s pressure defense.

“We ran into some elite-level talent tonight,” Odom said. “We did some good things at times, but they’re just so tough with their length and athleticism and how much space they can cover. We worked five-on-eight at practice just to prepare for it.

“We needed a couple things to happen to have a chance, but when their 6’6 guard [Brown] comes out hitting shots like he was tonight, there’s not much you can do. Like I told our guys, sometimes you just have to tip your cap.”

Brown, the son of Lee head coach Greg Brown, knocked down a pair of shots from NBA range in a 12-point first quarter and then buried his third three of the night early in the second. He also threw down a pair of first-half dunks, a two-hander on a breakaway and then a one-handed jam off a lob pass.

Burnett scored 12 points in the first half and then really got rolling with nine third-quarter points, including a two-handed flush off an alley-oop from Brown. The two finished with 51 points between them, helping Lee post the highest single-game point total Russellville has allowed all season.

Sophomore Devin Buckhalter hit a three to close out the first quarter and get the Golden Tigers within 12 at 26-14, but Lee point guard Tyreese Smith—also a sophomore—countered with eight second-quarter points to help the Generals build the lead to 48-29 by halftime. Russellville trimmed the margin to 17 on a couple of occasions, but Lee out-scored the Golden Tigers 26-15 in the third to take a 30-point lead into the fourth quarter.

The Generals will face Wenonah (a 67-41 winner over Fairview) in the regional semifinals in Hanceville next Monday at 1:30 p.m. Of Lee’s 14 losses this season, nine have come against out-of-state competition, and three have come to Jemison (which crushed East Limestone 77-24 on Tuesday and will face Fairfield in Monday’s other Class 5A semifinal in Hanceville).

The Golden Tigers, meanwhile, finished their second season under Odom with 18 wins (a seven-win improvement from a year ago), claiming their first regular-season area championship since 2011 and their second straight area tournament title.

“We’re where we need to be as a program,” Odom said. “The next step is to win games like this against that caliber of opponent. It’s not easy to do, but the key is to keep getting here and giving yourself a chance.”

Stidham led Russellville with 14 points on Tuesday night. Senior point guard Taylor Vincent added 13, and Buckhalter finished with seven. Senior guard Bailey Motes also scored seven points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.

Lucas McNutt finished with five points, and Judd Ward had three. The Golden Tigers hit four threes and shot 11-for-14 from the foul line. Lee made five threes and finished 16-for-22 from the line.

Russellville bid farewell on Tuesday to a senior class that includes Stidham, Motes, Vincent, Ward and reserve post player Nate Franklin. Motes, a 6’1 guard, finished his only season in a Russellville uniform with 484 total points, an average of 19.4 per game. He topped the 20-point mark 12 times this season and finished his four-year varsity career (one season at Phil Campbell, two at Tharptown and one at Russellville) with 1,898 points.

Stidham averaged a career-high 11.8 points per game as a senior and also led Russellville in rebounding. He played four seasons of varsity basketball with the Golden Tigers and scored 865 career points. The 6’5, 255-pound Stidham has signed a letter of intent to play football at Troy University.

Vincent also had a career year as a senior, averaging 7.9 points per game and leading the team in assists. He sustained a fracture to his left wrist against Brooks on January 12 but missed just three games the rest of the season.

Ward, an Auburn University baseball signee, provided Russellville with a competitive spark in his only season of varsity basketball and also averaged 6.6 points per game. The 6’3 Franklin served as the first post player off the bench for the Golden Tigers, backing up Stidham in the paint.

“I’ve been doing this for eighteen years,” Odom said, “and it’s always tough to see a senior class move on, but this group of guys holds a special place in my heart. I’ve said it so much, but they really were a joy to coach. I’m proud of them, and I love them. They went about their business and did things the right way, and they’re great character guys.

“Bailey Motes had an outstanding season for us. I knew from coaching against him in the past that he was a great kid, but he really is a special young man. As for Judd, it’s hard to measure the impact he had on this basketball program with his toughness and his competitive character. And then you had the guys who have been here who made such great strides this season. Taylor Vincent gave so much leadership to this team, and that’s not something he could have done last year. There aren’t enough words to describe what Austin Stidham has meant to us, and Nate Franklin—even though he didn’t play as many minutes as the other guys—was so big for us in the locker room.

“All those guys are great kids who did things the right way, and that’s what made them so much fun to coach. I told our younger guys after the game, ‘Those guys did it the right way. Now it’s your turn.’”

Buckhalter had a breakout sophomore year, bumping his scoring average from 5.5 points per game as a freshman to 13.0 this season. McNutt, another sophomore, averaged 8.2 points per game this season and led Russellville in threes made with 39. Those two and Caden Parker, also a sophomore, will return for the Golden Tigers, as will guard Avery Sears. The 6’1 Sears was Russellville’s leading returning scorer from last year but missed his entire junior season after sustaining an ACL injury late in the fall.

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