No. 10 Bears 9-0 after pair of weekend wins

By Dusty Harper (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Monday, December 21, 2009

The wins just keep coming for first-year head coach Mitch Joiner and the Edward Bell Bears.

Days after climbing into the ASWA polls for the first time, the Bears squeaked by a tough Lanett team 67-62 in overtime on Friday in Camp Hill, then turned around and beat Dadeville on the road 78-60 Saturday.

Joiner said the victory over the Panthers, who had previously only lost to 6A Opelika, 5A Valley and 5A Booker T. Washington, will do a lot for his team (9-0).

“That’s one of, if not the best team we’ll see all year,” Joiner said. “If we can beat them we can beat anybody. They are big and athletic at every spot. But, every single player on our team did something good to contribute. It was definitely a team effort.”

EBHS trailed by as many as 12 points in the first quarter, cut the lead to five at halftime and pulled even with Lanett entering the third quarter.

With the game tied at 55-55, the Bears held for the final shot, but missed, sending the game into overtime.

“Neither team could ever pull away from the other,” Joiner said. “(Lanett) just made three 3-pointers the whole game, but two of them were in overtime after we took a lead. Finally, we were able to get a three-point lead in the last few seconds, and we broke loose on an inbounds pass to get a lay-up and seal it.”

Armis Holloway continued his recent good play with 20 points. Damien Carr and Jamie Edwards scored 11 each, while Kiunte Dowdell and Cobe Bowens added nine each.

On Saturday, the Bears put five players in double figures in an 18-point win against Dadeville.

After leading 24-17 following the first quarter, Joiner said Carr got hot and helped EBHS extend the lead in the second period.

“We gave up a lot of points in the first quarter, which is not like us,” Joiner said. “But, Damien just kind of took over for a couple minutes in the second quarter and got us a pretty good lead. When he gets going, he’s not going to be stopped.”

Carr, who closed with 15 points, and EBHS led 45-32 at halftime and then outscored the Tigers 20-9 in the third quarter.

Edwards led all scorers with 19 points. Holloway and Eddie Webb poured in 12 apiece, and Bowens ended up with 10 points.

The Bears made nine 3-pointers in the win, while the Tigers netted just one.

“We played pretty good pressure defense, but I’m not satisfied with it overall,” Joiner said. “Our zone was weak and they just drove by us a lot in man-to-man situations.”

Kieran Sturdivant had 17 to pace Dadeville, and Adam Clark scored 12 points. Serdarryen Pulliam had nine. Leading scorers Terry Toler and Kyle Caldwell were held to 10 points combined.

The Bears will go for 10 in a row on Dec. 28 in the Dadeville Christmas Tournament. EBHS will take on No. 7 Loachapoka in the first round.

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