Indians fall to Parker, end season at regionals
JACKSONVILLE – The Indians ran into a second-half buzz saw on Friday afternoon.
The Pinson Valley High School boys basketball team was limited to just 13 points over the final two quarters, as the Indians fell to Parker, 66-46, in the Class 6A Northeast Regional Semifinals at Jacksonville State University.
“It’s kind of a hard loss because I felt like as a team we were really primed to make a run in 6A this year,” said Pinson Valley head coach Cedric Lane.
Pinson Valley (23-11) discovered why Parker made a run to the state final a year ago, as the Thundering Herd locked up the Indians and ran away with the victory in the second half. Pinson could total just 46 points a few days after piling up 109 in its sub-regional victory over Cullman.
“They do a good job of coaching defense and the defense that they play, it’s kind of tough to score on them,” Lane said. “You know it’s going to be a low-scoring ball game so you’ve got to try to control the tempo.”
However, the game was close through three quarters thanks to a strong second quarter from Pinson Valley. The Indians got out in transition and scored half of their total output for the game in that frame. But in the third and fourth quarters, the shots quit falling.
After a Colby Jones jumper cut Parker’s lead to 41-39 in the final minute of the third quarter, the Thundering Herd ran away with the game with a 25-4 run over the next seven minutes. Pinson Valley led 33-27 at halftime before going cold.
“We didn’t have a good day shooting,” said Jones, who scored 10 points on the day for the Indians.
Senior Orion Morris led the Indians with 14 points in his final high school game, as the lone senior on the Pinson Valley roster. Geordon Pollard posted 10 points and seven rebounds.
Lane wasn't upset with his team's shot selection in the second half of the game, but rather the execution. Pinson Valley finished the day just 15-of-48 (31 percent) from the field.
“We just didn’t make shots,” Lane said of the second half. “We took the same shots we took in the first half.”
Jason King led Parker with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Pinson Valley saw its season come to an end in the regional semifinal for the second consecutive year under Lane, as the Indians finished with a 23-11 mark.
“I’m proud of the guys for staying the course and being a good group of guys that competed,” Lane said. “We went around the Southeast and competed and won games in different states. But when it’s all said and done, you’ve got to be the best team in your neighborhood and state and we didn’t do that. We didn’t reach our goals.”
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