Regional tournament: Patriots fall in regional final

JACKSONVILLE – For the second straight year, the Mountain Brook High School boys basketball team will make an appearance in Birmingham for the Class 6A state final four.

The Spartans reached the state semifinals by way of a 55-49 win over Homewood on Tuesday in the 6A Northeast Regional final at Jacksonville State University’s Pete Mathews Coliseum.

“Winning is hard,” Mountain Brook head coach Tyler Davis said following the game. “In a game like this, you’ve got to live in the moment and take what’s there.”

Homewood forced Mountain Brook to earn every bit of that victory in the fourth quarter, after the Spartans took a 44-33 edge into the final period. A combination of suffocating defense and being on the right side of a few key plays allowed Homewood to close the gap, while holding the Spartans scoreless for a six-minute stretch. 

Enter Carson Romero, who drilled back-to-back 3-pointers in a 30-second span to allow Mountain Brook to breathe. 

“We tried to call a set play but they were trapping us,” Romero said. “I just caught it and was in rhythm.”

The Spartans also drilled their free throws in the final moments and went 17-of-19 from the stripe for the game to earn the win.

“Our guys rose to the occasion,” Davis said.

Ty Davis did reclaim his status as the Spartans’ leading scorer in the game, but he scored just 11 points. Trey Davis scored 22 points in Mountain Brook’s semifinal win, while Romero hit the key shots and finished with 10 points in this game.

“Different games call for different people to step up,” Ty Davis said.

Both teams shot 50% for the contest, and Homewood coach Tim Shepler took away plenty of positive feelings from the tough loss.

“Our kids competed really, really hard and lost to a good Mountain Brook team,” Shepler said. “We could’ve tanked it, but we got back within one possession and were one play from things really shifting to our side.”

Mountain Brook jumped out to an immediate 6-0 lead within the first 30 seconds and was ahead 14-5 early. But Homewood never let the game get out of hand and made its push in the fourth quarter.

Latham Binkley scored 11 points in the game, including hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the first half that kept the Patriots close.

“Sticking together as a team,” Binkley said, when asked how the Patriots hung in the game. “If I had to describe our team in one word, it would be family. We’ve gone through tough moments together.”

Kaleb Carson led Homewood with 12 points in the game, but got into early foul trouble and played only 17 minutes. 

Both teams had student support that filled the respective end zone seats from floor to ceiling.

“If we can’t get up and play in this, you might not need to be in athletics,” Shepler said he told his team before the game. “This is the apex of competing.”

Mountain Brook moves on to play Carver-Montgomery in the state semifinals next Wednesday at Legacy Arena.

Homewood finishes the season with a 24-9 record, advancing to its first regional final since winning state in 2016.

A few other Starnes Media teams were in action Tuesday in regional finals.

Hoover's girls and boys earned wins in Hanceville.

Hewitt-Trussville's girls beat Chelsea for the fourth time this year.