TC Central (17-8) won the area crown for the fourth time in five years, but they fell in the Sub-Regional to Shades Mountain Christian. For their efforts this past season, TC Central was awarded three players on the All-Talladega County Basketball along with Player and Coach of the Year honors.
“I feel like the guys did a great job of coming together,” TC Central head coach David Wright said. “We had some adversity. Our big man didn’t become eligible until the second half of the year, and then we started to get a little banged up. I think we did a real good job of fighting through adversity and playing together. Tevin Garrett was a steady hand in all of our accomplishments. I think we were a couple games short of a 20-win season, but we did finish up as Area Champs and that is always a big thing. I think doing the way we did it by flipping a coin because we were tied with Winterboro in the regular season— losing the coin toss and having to go to Winterboro for the area tournament put a little bit more fire in the guys to make them want go out and have a good showing, and we did. Nothing to take away from Shades Mountain, but I think we had a few bad breaks in that game. Shades Mountain played a great game. They came and beat us on our home floor by a point or two. We came up short accomplishing the goal we wanted to achieve, which was a state championship.”
Tevin Garrett earned The Daily Home Class 1A-3A Player of the Year honors. Garrett averaged 16.5 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game for TC.
“This guy was just everything,” Wright said. “When we needed a ball handler, he was a handler. When we needed rebounds, he got us rebounds. When we needed buckets, definitely got us buckets. He is the type of player that you wished you never saw graduate. He will definitely be missed. He did a lot for this team.”
Damien Staples also had a strong season for the Fighting Tigers. Staples got it done on both ends of the floor for TC and for that he was named to the first team.
“Damien was our defensive specialist,” Wright said. “If somebody else had a good player, Damien Staples would get the nod. He always did a good job of shutting down the other team’s best player and at the same time finding a way to give us 15 to 20 points per game. You are going to miss that type of play for individuals like that.”
Kendarius Swain earned second team honors for TC Central.
Wright was shocked he earned Coach of the Year honor from his peers.
“I am very flattered,” the first year coach said. “I definitely appreciate the compliment and the gesture of all the other coaches. I am excited about the upcoming year.”
The Winterboro Bulldogs had one of their best seasons on the hardwood this season. Winterboro and TC were tied for the best record in the area, but the Bulldogs won the coin toss to host the area.
The Bulldogs (10-16) lost the area title game to TC and failed their first Sub-Regional game in several years to Parkway Christian 57-49.
For their efforts, Winterboro had three players to earn All-County honors.
Josh Taylor earned first team honors for Winterboro. As a senior, he led the Bulldogs in scoring with 14 points per game.
Curtavious Gray earned second team honors. Gray averaged eight points and six boards per game. Nick Leonard earned a spot on the honorable mention team for Winterboro.
The Fayetteville Wolves had four players to earn All-County honors. Zach McGrady made first team, Tyari Powell earned second team honors, while Steven King and JT Townsend earned spots on the honorable mention team.
The Silent Warriors of ASD had two players to earn All-County honors. Demetric Snider earned second team honors while Kendarius Slaughter earned honorable mention honors.
B.B. Comer had three players to earn All County honors. Owen Wallace and Wesley Strong led Comer in scoring and rebounding this season. Both players earned first team honors. Jalen Murphy earned second team honors for Comer.
The 1A-3A coaches in the Talladega County selected the players for All-County.
