BREMEN, Ala. – The Cold Springs Eagles clashed with the Addison Bulldogs at Jesse George Gymnasium Friday night and the hometown Eagles were able to keep the Dawgs at arm’s length most of the night. Cold Springs carried a 33-20 lead in the halftime break and was able to pull away and claim a 62-40 win over Addison and this year’s 2A, Area 13 Championship.
Cold Springs Coach Tim Willoughby was pleased with the way his squad played defensively in the win and is especially proud of his group of seniors that have led the Eagles to this point.
“Very proud of our guys. We shot the ball well tonight. We tried to make it extremely tough defensively on them (Addison) tonight,” Willoughby said. “We didn’t want to give up any easy baskets. Number 13 (Howse) for Addison is one of the best guards that we played all year, and they have some more shooters that you can’t let have open looks or they will hit the shots. Proud of my seniors. Brody Peppers, Tanner Kilgo and Cody Bales have all been on varsity since they were Freshman and have meant a lot to the program.”
The first period started out fairly evenly as Addison and Cold Springs swapped buckets, with Addison leading 8-7 with 3:50 minutes to go in the period. The Eagles then went on a 9-0 run jump out to a 16-8 lead. Eagle Junior John Mark Smith did his best Steph Curry impersonation as he bombed threes from all over the gym. Smith nailed two in the period and had a layup as well. Senior Seth Williams drained a three as well. The Eagles couldn’t miss in the period, well pretty much for the entire game. At the end of the first period, the Eagles led 16-10. Addison Senior Eli Howse had five points for the Dawgs and Junior Brady Gilbreath had three points.
The second period was more of the same as Cold Springs ran their offense to perfection. There were crisp passes to the player cutting for the layup. If the cut wasn’t there, they would find the open man for the three-point attempt, which they usually made. Smith made two more threes and Senior Brody Peppers had one as well. The Eagles and Bulldogs both had only three rebounds apiece for the period, which means that there weren’t very many missed shots. The Eagles won the period 17-10 with Howse scoring six of the points. The Eagles carried a 33-20 lead into the half and in all truthfulness, it didn’t seem that close of a game.
The third period was won by the Eagles as they outscored the Dawgs 16-13 to carry a 49-33 lead into the final period. Peppers went off for the Eagles as he dominated the period. Peppers, who seems like he has been playing at Cold Springs for ten years, in truth he has only been starting since ninth grade, had eight points and three rebounds. Smith and Williams drained some more three-pointers and the entire team continued to play excellent defense. The Bulldogs couldn’t get an uncontested shot off. Addison Senior Justin Mather did everything in his power to keep the Dawgs close as he had nine of their 13 points. Freshman Bradley Willette and Howse had two points apiece for the Dawgs.
The fourth period had the Eagles closing out the Dawgs in matter-of-fact way as they outscored them 13-7 to take the victory 62-40. Addison Senior Joe Harris had three points, Christian Roberts and Mather had a bucket apiece. The Eagles were led by Smith’s five points, all free throws. Peppers, Senior Cody Bales, Williams and Senior Tanner Kilgo each had two points apiece.
Cold Springs was the better team on this evening, as they played a near flawless game. It would be surprising if the Eagles didn’t shoot at least 65% from the field for the game. Addison on the other hand shoots a lot of threes but just couldn’t find any open looks on this night. The Bulldogs only hit four for the entire night.
Addison Head Coach Ben Mastin,
“Cold Springs played really well tonight. I mean they played an almost flawless game,” Mastin said. “We didn’t help ourselves by turning the ball over a lot. Our offense relies on running in transition but if the other team doesn’t miss the shot, it makes it hard on us. Coach Willoughby does an excellent job over here and had a great plan tonight.”
Cold Springs will return home Tuesday night to host Aliceville in the Sub-Regional while the Bulldogs travel to Red Bay.
Unofficial stats:
Cold Springs was led by Smith who had a game-high 22 points and three boards. Peppers had 16 points and five boards. Williams had 10 points and two boards. Cody Bales had six points and a blocked shot. Kilgo had six points, three boards and a block. Coleton Bales had two points. Cold Springs was 12-15 in free throws.
Addison was led by Howse who had 13 points and three assists. Mather had 11 points and four boards. Gilbreath had five points. Roberts had two points, four boards and three steals. Freshman Jed Wilkins had two points, three boards and three assists. Willette had two points, three boards and a block. Junior Briley Hayes had two points and one assist. Harris had three points and one board. Addison was 6-10 in free throws.
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