AHSAA 6A Final Four Preview
With tournament play coming to a close, only four teams remain in the hunt for the Class 6A State Championship title. Those teams are Muscle Shoals, Carver (Montgomery), Pinson Valley, and Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa. These four teams will face off in two…
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Continue ReadingWith tournament play coming to a close, only four teams remain in the hunt for the Class 6A State Championship title. Those teams are Muscle Shoals, Carver (Montgomery), Pinson Valley, and Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa. These four teams will face off in two games that will be played in Birmingham on February 27th beginning at 10:30 am. The winners will move on and face each other in the State Finals game on March 2nd at 2:15 pm.
Class 6A
#6 Muscle Shoals (25-7) vs. #8 Carver (Montgomery) (22-10)
How They Got There:
Muscle Shoals: Decatur (67-49), McAdory (63-46), Bessemer City (64-52)
Carver: Eufaula (71-67), Opelika (44-41), Sidney Lanier (58-54)
Players to Watch:
Muscle Shoals: Mark Sears and Mikey McIntosh are two studs that you’ll want to keep your eye on for the Trojans. Sears has had two 20+ point games in his last two outings. Against Bessemer City in the Regional Finals he put up 31 points and in the Regional Semi-Finals against McAdory he put up 23 points and had 7 rebounds. McIntosh has also been helping the Trojans, putting up 12 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in the win over McAdory.
Carver: For the Wolverines, you’ll want to watch Michael Murry and Kaykwon Walton. Murry helped Carver get the Regional Finals win over Sidney Lanier, putting up 16 points and shooting 6-9 from the field. Walton helped his team in the Regional Semi-Finals, with 17 points and 2 steals.
Prediction:
With this being a top 10 matchup, and the winner moving on to the State Championship game, this one is pretty much a toss-up and could go either way. Mark Sears has been playing really well recently for the Trojans, averaging just under 30 points a game. I think he is going to come up big again Wednesday night and help Muscle Shoals get the single digit win over Carver.
#7 Pinson Valley (22-9) vs. Hillcrest (28-7)
How They Got There:
Pinson Valley: Homewood (61-50), Lee-Huntsville (67-52), Huffman (63-61)
Hillcrest: Selma (51-37), Blount (57-36), Paul Bryant (44-33)
Players to Watch:
Pinson Valley: Kameron Woods and Koolaid McKinstry have been playing at a high level recently for the Indians. Woods is averaging 28.5 points in his last two games and shows no signs of stopping. In the Regional Semi-Finals, he put up 28 points and in the Regional Finals game, he had 29 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists. McKinstry has also been playing very well, with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals in the Semi-Finals win over Lee-Huntsville.
Hillcrest: Two players that you’ll want to watch out for from the Patriots are JaLon Johnson and Christian Moore. Johnson had an impressive 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists against Paul Bryant in the Regional Finals game, and 30 points and 8 rebounds in the Regional Semi-Finals win over Blount. Moore had 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists in the win over Blount as well.
Prediction:
With Pinson Valley being the #7 team in the state, and Kameron Woods averaging almost 30 points in his last two games, I think they are going to be pretty hard to beat. Hillcrest is a good team and JaLon Johnson can certainly come alive. However, I don’t think they’ll have enough steam to get past Pinson Valley and will fall to them by single digits on Wednesday night.
Check out our Class 1A, Class 2A, Class 3A, and Class 4A Final Four previews!