(Video)Homewood defeats Pelham to win area outright

The Class 6A, Area 9 regular season crown belongs to Homewood. The Patriots knocked off Pelham 56-46 on Monday night in an intense battle between area foes.

Homewood jumped out to a 21-9 lead early and it looked as if the ballgame would be over quickly, as Austin Patterson, Luke Touiliatos, and Peyton Brown combined to make five three-pointers in the opening frame. 

Pelham went on a run to cut the deficit to five in the second period, but Brown cashed in consecutive shots from deep to stretch the lead back out, as the Patriots walked to the locker room with a 34-23 halftime edge.

"We hurt ourselves some in the first half with some foul trouble," Homewood head coach Tim Shepler said. "

The three-point shot continued to be a recurring theme in the second half, as Touiliatos and Pelham star Alex Reese exchanged them at the start of the third quarter. Reese scored 13 points in the period, as the Panthers roared back to within four.

An acrobatic layup from Pelham's Devon Jenkins cut the Homewood lead to 49-44 early in the fourth, but that was as close as the Panthers would be the rest of the night. The Patriots allowed just one field goal the rest of the way and converted about half of their free throws down the stretch to reach the final margin.

"In the second half, we got a couple steals and kind of broke the game open and got some separation and we were able to hold on," Shepler said.

He added, "Pelham just is good. They run solid stuff and make it hard on you. Our pressure is what pulled us through."

Touiliatos led all scorers with 27 points in the game, including four key steals in the backcourt that led to easy layups.

Brown and Patterson joined him in double figures with 11 and ten, respectively. Brown led the team with eight boards while Patterson, the do-it-all point guard, pulled down four rebounds and dished out three assists.

Will Mizerany did not fill up many boxes on the stat sheets, but his four assists proved critical. The box score also does not reflect it, but CD Daniels played excellent defense, harassing the Pelham guards all evening.

Pelham's best player, forward Alex Reese, scored 24 points, but the Patriots felt as if they played better against him than the first meeting between the two teams.

"He's an amazing player," Touiliatos said of Reese, who also pulled down 13 rebounds to notch a double-double. "We just wanted to limit his good looks and I think we did a decent job of that."

Justin Allison added eight points for Pelham.

Homewood plays four games before both teams enter the all-important area tournament, a quirk of the schedule that Shepler is not fond of. But winning the area outright is a welcome change from the last three years, in which Homewood has found itself in a coin toss to determine the host of the tournament.

That situation would have presented itself for the fourth straight year had the Patriots fallen to Pelham.

"You still got to play. We came over (to Pelham) last year and ended up winning. So I know it's whoever is playing well that night," Shepler said.