Big run propels Rebels to regional final
HANCEVILLE — Accumulated experience paid off for the Rebels in the second half.
The Vestavia Hills High School boys basketball team transformed a halftime stalemate into a convincing 61-45 victory over Florence on Thursday afternoon in the Class 7A Northwest Regional semifinals, held at Wallace State Community College.
Vestavia Hills (22-10) emerged from the halftime locker room with the score tied at 25-25 but proceeded to start the third quarter on a 14-0 run, with senior Luke Couch scoring seven consecutive points in the midst of it.
But it wasn’t those points he was most interested in when talking about the defining burst.
“Defensive stops,” he said when asked about the key to the run. “We got stop after stop, and it kills momentum.”
The Rebels held a 12-10 lead after the first quarter, and Florence tied the game at the halftime break. At the break, Vestavia Hills head coach Patrick Davis said the team refocused on its transition defense after a few lapses late in the second quarter. Dialing in allowed the Rebels to slow down the athletic Falcons.
Vestavia Hills didn’t allow Florence (29-4) a field goal the entire third quarter, with the Falcons’ only two points in the period coming on a pair of free throws. Vestavia Hills took its 39-27 lead into the final quarter and didn’t look back.
“If you get three stops in a row, we call it a kill,” Davis said. “We got a lot of kills.”
After Florence cut the lead back to eight points early in the fourth, Vestavia Hills went on a 9-1 run that included six points from Paul Michael Hargrove.
Couch finished the game with 11 points and was one of three double-digit scorers for the Rebels on the day. Michael Vice scored a game-high 18 points to go along with nine rebounds. Hargrove went for 15 points and seven rebounds.
What do all three have in common? They are seniors who have been there before, and they helped send the Rebels to their second regional final in three years.
“We’ve talked all year and all this week about how much experience plays a role in the regional,” Davis said. “It ain’t a secret. We’ve got eight seniors and seven that play a ton, and we ride with those dudes.”
Those eight seniors will aim to keep the ride going as long as possible.
“We’ve been playing together forever and we don’t want it to end,” Vice said.
Vestavia Hills will take on Mountain Brook in the regional final next Tuesday at 10:45 a.m. It will be the fourth meeting this season between the two area foes and neighboring rivals, with Mountain Brook winning the previous three games.
But the Rebels don’t plan on approaching things any differently.
“Prepare like normal,” Couch said. “The biggest game of the year is always the next game.”