West Point High School Principal Heith Yearwood, left, with members of the 1987 West Point High School varsity basketball team / courtesy of West Point Student Section on Twitter
CULLMAN COUNTY – Tuesday turned out to be an evening of memorable high school basketball that will not be forgotten for a very long time.
The longest game ever to be played at Jim Boyd Gymnasium took place on a night West Point High School recognized its varsity and girls for success they enjoyed 30 years ago.
West Point and Walker slugged it out for 20 extra minutes of play, a total of 52 minutes for the contest. Walker pulled it out 80-76.
Up the road in Cullman, the Lady Bearcats dealt with a double overtime battle for the second time, against an opponent from Morgan County.
Cullman and Decatur took two extra quarters before the Lady Red Raiders posted a 66-63 triumph.
That was the setting on local varsity basketball for Tuesday. Eight of the 10 varsity games played inside the county were won by the road team.
No home court advantage was had in the varsity assignments, with Cold Springs winning at St. Bernard, Decatur coming out on top at Cullman, Holly Pond rolling at Fairview, Hanceville winning by a huge margin at Vinemont and the five overtime game of Walker at West Point.
Only two of the top girls' teams had a good night on the home hardwood. The current No. 9 team in the 5A rankings, Fairview, topped Holly Pond 67-39, while No. 10 West Point crushed Walker 63-24.
Besides the history of the five overtime game for the West Point fans to witness, history was created by Cold Springs in playing at St. Bernard's beautiful Fazi-Richard Athletic Center for the first time.
The passionate Cold Springs faithful, including students and a high percentage of adults (parents, grandparents), gathered at the prep school. Not many empty seats could be seen on the visitors' side.
St. Bernard had a very good crowd once the Saints and the Eagles went to it in the varsity encounter.
It turned out to be a memorable game for Cold Springs point guard Jesse Lee. Lee enjoyed his best ever performance offensively, scoring a career-best 28 points that keyed the Eagles' hard fought 57-49 win against a St. Bernard squad that only had six players available.
The Saints gave the Eagles everything, but wore down in the end, after Lee started fast in the third quarter with 10 consecutive points to break a 20-20 halftime tie and Cold Springs never trailed for the rest of the night.
Cold Springs and Holly Pond are currently the hottest teams in varsity hoops with both enjoying six-game winning streaks.
The No. 2 ranked Broncos ripped past Fairview 83-58 and have not lost a game against a Cullman County team, or vs. an opponent from Class 3A, Area 11.
On Monday night, the Broncos finished up area play with a smashing 109-31 win against Susan Moore at Felton Easterwood Gym.
Now on Thursday, the Broncos host Vinemont then look to the county tournament in which they are the top seed and will play a week from Friday against the winner of the West Point-Good Hope game.
The Cold Springs Lady Eagles have produced seven straight wins following their only loss so far in the season. Currently fifth in Class 2A, the Lady Eagles prevailed 63-10 over St. Bernard, completing Area 13 at 6-0.
Like Holly Pond, the Lady Eagles have not lost a game all season to a Cullman County rival. Tammy West's squad meets Good Hope for homecoming Friday to try and keep the record in tact.
West Point and Fairview girls enter Friday's high stakes game at Joe Shults Gymnasium with the same total of wins, 18. The Lady Aggies have six losses while the Lady Warriors have just four losses on the current schedule.
A Fairview win will put Mary Hartline's Lady Aggies as the host for the upcoming 5A, Area 12 tournament. A win by John Welborn's Lady Warriors will cause a coin toss to determine the tournament host.
The other games on Friday are Good Hope at Cold Springs, Hanceville at J.B. Pennington and Cullman at Fort Payne. Holly Pond, Vinemont and St. Bernard will have Friday night off.
Cullman Lady Bearcats must win at Fort Payne to stay in second in 6A, Area 14 before they head to Florette next Tuesday to take on area leader Brewer. Brewer is 5-0 in the area.
Rookie coach Josh Hembree has the Lady Bearcats 3-1 in the area standings, hoping they shake off a letdown from the double overtime loss to Decatur, which was the final home game for Cullman on the season.
The rest of the regular season schedule for the Lady Bearcats and Bearcats, will be at Fort Payne, Brewer, Athens, Lawrence County and Hartselle.
Two weeks remain in regular season play for our local teams, starting next week.
The postseason is right around the corner.
The possibility of having another evening like the area experienced on Tuesday, Jan. 17, does exist.
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