HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Good Hope and West Point met as the top two seeds in this year’s county tournament but once they hit the floor, the Raiders didn’t let off the gas and thanks in large part a 25-point explosion from Cole Maddox, they toppled the Warriors 86-68 and went home with back to back county titles.
A three-point play by Cole Maddox gave the Raiders an early 7-3 lead and Maddox converted another and-one play to make it 10-6 midway through the opening period. A basket from Kobe Bowers cut the lead to two but Dawson Turner buried a three and Michael Lowe added a jumper to make it 15-8 late in the first. Aubury Cleghorn hit a jumper to make it a 17-12 game but Turner added another trey to put Good Hope on top 20-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Lawton Farr laid one in to make it 24-14 early in the second but Will Thompson scored six straight for the Warriors to cut the lead to 27-20 midway through the period. Tyler White and Lowe exchanged three-pointers to make it 30-23 after that but Drew Maddox drilled a triple to extend the lead to 10 and tanner Malin turned a steal into two quick points just before halftime to make it a 35-23 game with the Raiders in front.
Another Cole Maddox layup stretched the lead to 37-23 at the start of the second half but Cleghorn knocked down three to cut it to 11. Good Hope created some separation after that and Malin drilled a three from the right wing to make it 47-28 with less than five minutes remaining in the half. Lowe netted a pair of free throws to add to the lead midway through the second quarter, but Will Cochran responded with two free throws on the other end to trim the lead back down to 17. Turner and Drew Maddox knocked down back to back threes to give the Raiders a 57-38 lead late in the third and Good Hope went into the fourth quarter leading West Point 60-43.
Cochran scored beneath the basket to cut the lead to 15 at the start of the fourth quarter but baskets from Eli Phares and another and-one by Cole Maddox put the Raiders in front 68-47 early in the final period. Jonathan Fell knocked down a three for West Point to trim the lead to 75-52 midway through the fourth but after Drew Maddox banked in another deep three-pointer to go up 78-54, Good Hope cruised to an 86-68 victory and a second consecutive county championship.
Good Hope Head Coach Drew Adams was proud of the way his team performed Saturday night against a strong opponent and wants to see them continue to improve as we move towards the postseason.
“West Point is a big, physical basketball team so we thought that we played really good half-court defense against Hanceville and we knew that we needed to continue that. We knew if we fronted their bigs and ran their shooters off the three-point line that we would have a pretty good shot,” Adams said. “Offensively, we just wanted to spread them out. We’ve got some pretty athletic guys so we knew the more we spread them out, the more looks we would get. Hats off to them, they ran that little triangle and two and it did give us some trouble, but we just had some big players make some big plays.”
Cole Maddox led the Raiders with 25 points in the win, followed by Lowe with 14, Turner and Malin with 11 and Drew Maddox with nine. Bowers finished with 15 points in the loss for West Point. Cleghorn scored 11, Cochran added 10 and Mason Walls posted eight.
2019-2020 Varsity Boys All-County Team
Cole Maddox – Good Hope
Drew Maddox – Good Hope
Michael Lowe – Good Hope
Tyler White – West Point
Will Cochran – West Point
Brody Peppers – Cold Springs
Adam Hill – Cold Springs
Tyson Bellmon – Hanceville
Raiden Morgan – Hanceville
Austin Turner – Fairview
Dow Nichols – Fairview
Kyler Chaney – Holly Pond
Katch Johnson – Vinemont
2020 Varsity Boys All-County Tournament Team
Brodie Malcom – Hanceville
Owen Yarbrough – Fairview
Adam Hill – Cold Springs
Will Cochran – West Point
Cole Maddox – Good Hope
Kobe Bowers – West Point
Raiden Morgan – Hanceville
Brody Peppers – Cold Springs
Michael Lowe – Good Hope
2020 Eli Thomas Memorial Scholarship winner: Teague Whatley, Vinemont
2020 Joe Shults Award winner: Kyler Chaney, Holly Pond
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