Dadeville ends on 3-game winning streak

By Dusty Harper (Contact) | Dadeville Record

Published Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Things are looking up for the Dadeville boys basketball team as it enters the postseason.

The Tigers are 14-11 after wins against Holtville, Benjamin Russell and Reeltown to finish out the year.

Head coach Rodney Taylor said he likes the position his team is in. The Tigers, like the girls, will take on Beulah on Friday in a must-win game.

“After not playing well for a couple of games, to go on the road and beat Holtville, to control the game in Alex City and to beat a good Reeltown team does a lot for us,” Taylor said. “We beat Beulah by 30 at home and then lost on a last-second shot the second time. We need to play our game and we’ll be fine.”

Tigers complete sweep of BRHS

In the final regular season game of the year for Benjamin Russell on Saturday, the Wildcats came alive late to make it close, but the Tigers were too much in a 35-33 win.

Dadeville led by as many as 12 points in the first half and led 27-19 after three quarters. Larry Marbury began the final quarter with a 3-pointer to pull BRHS to within five points.

Following a Quin Alvies basket with 4:42 left, Dadeville was on top 32-26. However, BRHS’ Demetrius Birmingham made a free throw and Adrian Whetstone sank 4 of 4 charity shots to make it a one-point game with 1:57 left.

Birmingham gave the Cats their first lead of the game with 1:19 on the clock with a lay-up that woke up the home crowd. The excitement was short-lived, as Alvies reclaimed the lead for Dadeville with 57 seconds to play.

BRHS missed two opportunities to tie the game, and Dadeville’s Chris Waldrep hit a free throw with 14 seconds showing, setting up one final chance for the Cats.

Whetstone got a decent look at the goal, but he couldn’t convert, and after a second-chance shot was no good, Dadeville’s Ladarius Wilkerson secured the rebound as time expired. The Tigers improved to 13-11, while BRHS fell to a final mark of 2-20.

It was a slow start to the game for BRHS, as the Cats were whistled for a technical foul in warm-ups. BRHS was held to five points in each of the first two quarters, allowing Dadeville to capture a 21-10 halftime lead.

Alvies had 10 points, Terry Toler had nine and Wilkerson had eight for Dadeville. Whetstone closed with 13 for BRHS and Birmingham scored 10. Toler made a free throw with .9 seconds left on Friday to give Dadeville a 42-41 win against Holtville.

DHS beats Rebels for second time

Dadeville made 13 of 17 foul shots in the fourth quarter to deny Reeltown’s comeback effort and beat the Rebels 61-57 at DHS on Monday.

The win gave Dadeville a 2-1 victory in the season series.

“We played solid (Monday),” DHS head coach Rodney Taylor said. “We had good spacing on offense, made a couple of jumpers and got some easy transition baskets. I thought we did a good job of crashing boards.”

Alvies, who was moved up from the junior varsity team mid-season, paced the Tigers with 18 points.

“He’s got a chance to be a good one,” Taylor said.

Wilkerson and Toler both poured in 17 points in Dadeville’s third victory in a row.

Reeltown (13-6) has now lost three of its last four games and two straight, counting Saturday’s 63-56 loss at Elmore County.

Dadeville has played its last several games without either point guard Kyle Caldwell or post Kieran Sturdivant or both. Each player will be available on Friday, when the Tigers travel to LaFayette to take on Beulah.

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