Austin advances in N2Hoops tournament; Athens, Decatur and East Limestone all fall

Nov. 25—MADISON — Four local teams competed Monday in the first round of the N2Hoops tournament, but only one advanced to the winner's bracket,

Austin defeated East Limestone 71-52 to advance to the second round of the annual Thanksgiving tournament, which is being hosted at Bob Jones High School this year. The Black Bears will face Hewitt-Trussville at noon Tuesday.

In other games, Decatur lost to Buckhorn, while Athens lost to Shelbyville Central 47-45.

Decatur will play Oakwood Academy in the loser's bracket on Tuesday at 9 a.m., while Athens will play Park Crossing at 10:30 a.m. and East Limestone will play Whitesburg Christian at noon.

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Austin 71, East Limestone 52: Landyn Williams and Caiden Ricks make quite the deadly combination for the Class 7A, No. 6 Austin Black Bears.

At 6-foot-7, Ricks is a presence in the paint, while Williams is a sharpshooter on the outside. Put the two together and the Black Bears are nearly impossible to stop.

"When we can work inside-out, that makes us pretty tough (to defend)," Austin head coach Desmond Phillips said. "We have one of the best players in the state inside, so he's always going to draw a lot of attention. If we can make those shots outside when he draws the attention inside, it makes us hard to beat."

The lethal combination of Ricks and Williams was on full display Monday night. Ricks scored a game-high 29 points, while Williams added 20, including 18 points off six 3-pointers.

"We can be really dangerous," Williams said. "Everybody tries to focus on Caiden but they still can't stop him. Then he kicks it out to me and I'm shooting it. There's nothing you can do, you can't really stop it."

Austin led 20-7 at the end of the first quarter and 43-16 at halftime against the Indians before cruising in the second half.

Quinton Pryor finished with 14 points for the Black Bears, while Kayne Meyers led East Limestone with 18.

After losing early in the same tournament last year, Austin hopes to make a run this time around.

"We came in here with a chip on our shoulder. We haven't been to the championship in a couple years so we want to get back," Phillips said.

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Buckhorn 60, Decatur 48: A bad second quarter doomed Decatur on Monday in a loss to Buckhorn.

The Bucks outscored Decatur 23-9 in the quarter to take an 18-point lead at halftime. The Red Raiders never got back within single digits.

"We did a terrible job of getting back defensively in that second quarter. They pushed the pace and were able to get some easy buckets," Decatur head coach Ben Mastin said. "They outscored us by 14 in that quarter, and we lost by 12, so those eight minutes were the difference in the game, which is the frustrating part."

Dakota Marcus led Decatur with 22 points, while Reeves Waller scored eight.

While the loss stings, Mastin said it's important for his young team to take its lumps early against top-tier competition.

"In our first 11 games of the season we play seven ranked teams. Teams that you have to play your best every night if you want to win," Mastin said. "It's a lesson that we're learning but the positive is it's going to prepare us for area play. We're building towards that moment."

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Shelbyville Central 47, Athens 45: Newton Johnsey led Athens with 15 points, while Lakin Barnes added nine.

Brayden Walker and Torian Mangruen each had seven points.

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