Rebels fall in regionals, Davis lauds seniors
HANCEVILLE – It took a great deal of willpower for Patrick Davis to contain his emotions afterwards.
And it still wasn’t enough to keep them totally in check.
After the No. 7 Vestavia Hills High School boys basketball team fell to No. 4 Sparkman, 71-55, in the Class 7A Northwest Regional Semifinal on Thursday at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, memories from the past two years flooded Davis’ mind.
“We’ve got a group with six seniors that have done so much for our program in two years,” said Davis, after the Rebels were unable to replicate the success they had at the regional tournament a season ago, when they defeated Hoover in the regional final and advanced to the Final Four.
But he wasn’t emotional because his team’s chance to win a state championship was dashed or because they fell short of a return trip to Birmingham. Sure, those goals were on the table, but it meant more than that.
“You want to win the game, and I’m sad that we didn’t win the game, but I’m sad that I don’t get to coach these guys anymore,” Davis said.
Many of the six seniors — Rian Shields, Scott Morrison, Colin Scollard, Luke Champion, Breck Cuddy and Cameron Cacace —were critical to Vestavia’s Final Four run a season ago. That’s not what defined the Rebels in Davis’ eyes, though.
“It’s so much about the journey and not just the destination,” said Davis, admitting the clichéd nature of his response. “A year ago we win this game and the next game and get to the Final Four. And I still remember a lot about that game, but there’s so much that's blurry. For them, it’s blurry too. But the stuff outside of those games will never be blurry. Ever. That’s why it hurts so bad.”
Davis said his seniors took the foundation left by last year’s class and continued to build on it.
“The culture that they then took another step higher is what’s special and the mark they left,” Davis said. “They know that any success we have in the future, their thumbprint is on that. I thank them for that.”
On Thursday, the Rebels were unable to fully recover from Sparkman’s quick start. Vestavia fell behind early and trailed by double digits most of the way.
“They were just a lot better than us today,” Davis said. “They guarded and they made it really, really tough. We had some things that were self-inflicted, but our mishaps were because of what they did.”
Sparkman landed the first punch, jumping out to a 17-5 lead before the Rebels began to settle into the game. Morrison — who scored 16 points in the game — converted a reverse layup to end the first quarter with Sparkman holding a 17-7 lead.
Morrison went on to score nine consecutive points for the Rebels, as they made a run to cut Sparkman’s lead to six points. But Sparkman outscored Vestavia 12-5 the remainder of the period to take a 34-21 lead into the halftime break.
In the third quarter, Sparkman extended the edge to as much as 18 points. The Rebels scored seven straight, but left a few opportunities on the table at the end of the period, as the Senators maintained their 49-38 advantage.
Michael Vice’s layup cut the deficit to 10 points late in the fourth quarter, but the Rebels never got closer than that.
Champion led the Rebels with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting and tied for the team lead with Shields with four rebounds.
Malik Dyson scored 21 points to lead all scorers, as Sparkman had four guys eclipse double figures in scoring.
The Rebels conclude Davis’ second season at Vestavia with a 22-9 record.