McGill-Toolen’s Ethan Stokes is hammered by Park Crossing’s Joey Johnson (5) in Wednesday’s Class 6A South Regional finals at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery. Stokes scored 15 points in a combative 42-35 victory to send the Jackets to the state final four. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
McGill-Toolen coach Phillip Murphy and his players celebrate after beating Park Crossing 42-35 to return to the state final four. Murphy has taken the Jackets to the state tournament six times. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
MONTGOMERY — McGill-Toolen’s Ethan Stokes remembered his first basket of Wednesday’s regional final against Park Crossing with astonishment.
“I went up and I got hit,” he said, “and I was like shocked. They knocked me to the ground and I was like, ‘Wow, this is going to really be more physical than I expected it to be.’”
Stokes and the Yellow Jackets gave as good as they got — and a little more — to return to the state tournament.
Stokes went on to score 15 points and grab 10 rebounds as McGill-Toolen survived nine lead changes and a combat zone under the backboards for a 42-35 win over Park Crossing in the Class 6A South Regional finals at Garrett Coliseum.
The victory sent the Jackets (22-8) into the state final four for the 11th time overall and sixth time under coach Phillip Murphy. McGill-Toolen will meet Pinson Valley (21-8) in the state semifinals on Feb. 26 at 10:30 a.m. at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.
The defense from both teams was so menacing that players rushed shots even in the few occasions they weren’t harried. Those who ventured into the low post were seemingly greeted with barbed wire, brass knuckles, axe handles and broken glass.
“We figured it’d be a slugfest today and just hoping whatever team could break loose just a little bit at some point had a chance to hang on just because there’s so few possessions in the game,” Murphy said. “A three- or four-point lead in that game felt like a 10- to 15-point lead for sure. Even when we got down four or five, whatever it was, it felt like it was an insurmountable amount. At halftime, we’re down two and it felt like we were down 10. But our guys keep finding a way to win and here we are back in the final four. It’s unreal. They were able to ugly it up enough defensively that we had to go make those plays. But it doesn’t matter how ugly, we’ll take it.”
The defense was so foreboding that it took three minutes of the third period — almost half of it — between the Jackets’ Owen Norwood making a rare 3-pointer and Andrew Murchison’s layup to give them the lead for good at 23-22.
“There were some big boys and it was tough,” said Stokes, who at 6-foot-7 is no midget. “The first half, we struggled a little bit down low and rebounding. It was a little bit more pushing and shoving than usual but it was definitely tough getting used to those guys’ physicality. But the second half, the mentality was to come out and be strong and I think we did that well.”
Another Murchison layup with 5:35 to go gave McGill-Toolen its biggest lead at 33-25 before the Thunderbirds deployed full-court pressure and tied it at 35-35 with 2:10 left.
But the Jackets got a well-executed drive and feed from James King to Murchison, who pump faked, made the lay-in, got fouled and sank the free throw to give McGill-Toolen a 38-35 lead. Grayson Brower made four free throws in the final 1:17 to secure the win.
“They did a good job pressuring us there late but our guys did an even better job of taking care of the ball and hitting some timely free throws down the stretch,” Murphy said.
Most of the points from both teams came not from set plays in the offense but from loose balls and putbacks.
“I think that’s kind of been our identity this year is just playing hard because our offense really wasn’t great,” Stokes said. “We weren’t hitting a bunch of shots today but just playing hard, playing through the possession, going after loose balls and offensive rebounds, that’s it. Most of our points, really. We’ve got to continue that.”
The Jackets’ sophisticated defense — which has held opponents under 50 points 18 times, including in the 30s in four of five playoff games and features five players between 6-4 and 6-7 — has been a constant in victory. In the two South Regional wins, it held Wetumpka and Park Crossing to only 28.7% shooting from the field, including just 4 of 33 three-pointers.
“There’s a lot of defenses inside of our just regular man or 2-3 zone or 1-3-1 or whatever,” Stokes said. “Our defense is really still improving and that’s what’s got us here. I think we have room for improvement offensively, obviously, but we can’t get down on ourselves when we’re not hitting shots and just staying defensively perfect as we can all game.”
The Thunderbirds (11-13) came into the game on an eight-game winning streak after losing seven in a row at one stage but McGill-Toolen finally got separation with a 16-11 advantage in offensive rebounding, leading to 11 second-chance points.
Given the fact that the Jackets have scored 70 points or more only three times this season, Murphy said it’s the unlikeliest of his final four teams.
“There’s no question,” Murphy said. “I don’t want anybody to take this as a slap in their face because I knew there was a formula for them to do this — we just didn’t know how we were going to get here. It’s the most unlikely team going into it but as we’ve gone down the stretch, they’re continuing to get better, even now. I fully believe in what this team can do. We’re a game away from putting it together offensively with the defense and I feel like we can play with just about anybody if we’re doing that.”
