Mary G. Montgomery’s D.J. Broughton goes up for a shot during Friday’s Class 7A South Regional semifinal against Daphne at Montgomery’s Garrett Coliseum. Broughton scored 16 points but the Trojans rolled to a 68-40 win. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
MONTGOMERY — Buoyed by its upset of No. 10-ranked Baker in the area tournament championship game, Mary G. Montgomery was confident it could make an even more unexpected voyage to the state tournament.
Then Daphne showed up and punctured the Vikings’ balloon with precision playmaking.
The Trojans had an astounding 20 assists on 25 made baskets and routed MGM 68-40 in the Class 7A South Regional semifinals Friday at Garrett Coliseum.
Daphne (21-6) will face Baker or No. 5 Fairhope in the region finals Wednesday at 10:45 a.m.
Guards Antoine Sledge and Javion Dailey scored 22 points each while guard C.J. Garner had seven assists and forward Nathan Thompson distributed five more. Dailey also had nine rebounds.
“We played team basketball,” Trojans coach Reed Hotard said. “I just heard we had 20 assists on 25 made buckets. We’ve been harping on them all year that when they play together, they’re hard to beat. We have some special guards and we have some guys willing to do the dirty work without much recognition. I thought we had a great week of practice and we just played as well as we could have played.”
The same was true for the Vikings (12-11) when they beat Baker 57-53 in overtime to win the 7A Area 1 tournament a week after the Hornets had clobbered them 69-41.
“We just played out of our minds,” MGM coach Rovertus Kimble said. “We got beat by Baker by 28 points. I think the guys were scrapping and wanting to play Baker again.”
The Trojans also wanted to wash a lopsided defeat out of their mouths — a 91-66 loss to Fairhope on Jan. 30.
“Ever since then, we’ve kind of taken a different tone in practice and just the way we approach games,” Hotard said. “I think we’re hitting our stride right now.”
Daphne took control of Friday’s game with a 24-8 run from late in the first period through the second. The Trojans, who shot 57% from the field, had six layups in the period on the way to a 36-19 halftime lead.
“When the ball’s going in the hole at that speed, it’s hard to get stops,” Kimble said. “We knew (Dailey) was the head but they had so many different pieces. They’re a well-coached team. They played the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
Hotard said Daphne also did a good job minimizing MGM’s size advantage on the offensive glass, getting outscored only 10-7 off second-chance points.
“We knew that their size was going to be a problem for us, so we harped all week on keeping them off the offensive glass,” Hotard said. “Early in the game, it didn’t go well. We were giving up offensive rebounds but, as the game went on, we kind of settled in and we trusted that our guys would make plays if we could just keep them off the offensive glass.”
D.J. Broughton led the Vikings with 16 points and he made nearly half (6) of MGM’s 15 field goals.
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