By Rubin E. Grant
Mountain Brook boys basketball coach Tyler Davis wanted his team to be battle-tested once the postseason arrived, so he put together a demanding regular-season schedule for the Spartans.
The postseason has arrived and now Davis, in his fourth season as the Spartans’ head coach, will discover whether the tough slate pays off with another trip to the Final Four.
“I knew we would have a really tough schedule,” Davis said. “I planned it that way so it would help us in the long run. I wanted to put our guys in some adverse situations and see how they would respond.”
The Spartans experienced some adversity early in the season. They played in the Lighthouse Classic in Corinth, Mississippi, in November and suffered a narrow 43-42 loss to Booneville, Mississippi.
They played host to Huntsville on Nov. 30 and fell 49-45. Huntsville (27-2) finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in Class 7A.
They played in the Jasper Christmas Classic, which featured 16 elite teams from the Southeast, and lost 60-39 to Myers Park from Charlotte, North Carolina, which is ranked in the top 10 nationally.
The Spartans trailed just 24-21 at halftime but were outscored 36-18 in the second half. “I don’t think the final score was indicative of how the game was,” Davis said.
Mountain Brook also lost to Class 7A contender Central-Phenix City 49-46 in the Jasper Classic.
In late December, the Spartans traveled to Henderson County, Kentucky, for three games. They beat Male from Louisville 58-54 and Webster County from Dixon, Kentucky, 73-36, but lost to host Henderson 58-52.
Then, Mountain Brook began the New Year with a close 34-33 loss Jan. 2 at Clay-Chalkville.
The challenging schedule wasn’t the only thing the Spartans had to manage.
“Another obstacle we’ve had to deal with is sickness and guys being banged up,” Davis said. “Things are now starting to fall our way.”
The No. 2-ranked Class 6A Spartans (21-7) finished 6-0 in Area 10, sweeping Woodlawn 87-49 and 64-43, Pell City 72-47 and 62-45 and Shades Valley 42-35 and 49-47 to claim the regular season area title.
They also avenged the loss to Clay-Chalkville on Jan. 22, routing the Cougars 66-51 at Spartan Arena and giving the Spartans a seven-game winning streak.
The streak was snapped with a 51-47 loss last Thursday at No. 5-ranked Class 7A Vestavia Hills (21-5) in Mountain Brook’s regular-season finale. The Spartans had beaten the Rebels 49-43 at home earlier in the season.
Mountain Brook was the 2023 Class 6A runner-up, losing to Buckhorn 65-56 in the championship game. The Spartans opened the 2024 postseason this week as the host team in the area tournament. They played Woodlawn in the semifinals on Monday. Shades Valley met Pell City in the other semifinal. The area championship game was set for Wednesday night.
Experience on the Roster
The Spartans have relied on a senior-laden 10-man rotation, featuring 6-foot-5 guard Ty Davis, the coach’s son who has signed with Creighton. He is averaging 18.2 points and 5.3 assists.
“Ty has been consistent all year even though teams have been face guarding and double-teaming him,” coach Davis said. “He still puts his imprint on the game by being aggressive while getting so much attention from other teams. He scored in the 20s in all our area games and had 33 against Clay-Chalkville.”
Mountain Brook also has been getting solid play from senior guards Carson Romero and John Carwie, who is an excellent 3-point shooter, coach Davis said.
Senior swingman Lawson Gardner has been another steady performer.
“He’s been stepping his game up,” the coach said. “He had a really big game when we beat Shades Valley on the road. He hit a couple of big 3’s. He’s a glue guy. He plays good defense and does a lot of intangible stuff for us to be successful.”
The Spartans have used two talented players in the post, 6-5 senior Henry Hufman, who starts, and 6-6 junior Jack Bakken, who comes off the bench.
Trey Davis, a 5-11 sophomore guard who is the coach’s other son, has been a valuable reserve.
“Trey has come back from a stress fracture and given us some good minutes,” coach Davis said. “He had a big game against James Clemens, hitting 4 3’s.”
Junior forward Mac Couvillion, senior guard Tucker Crawford and 6-5 senior forward-center John Webb round out the rotation.
Coach Davis, who led Mountain Brook to the 2021 Class 6A state title in his first season at the helm, likes the way his team finished the regular season. Now, he is ready to see if the Spartans can make it back to Birmingham’s Legacy Arena, site to the state tournament Feb. 26-March 2.
“The one consistent thing we’ve done is we’ve defended well and rebounded well,” Davis said. “In the postseason, you have to have timely offense. If we have consistent offense, the sky is the limit because our defense is going to keep us in every game. If we do that, I think we can make a run.
“I feel confident about our team, but as coach you know when it comes to playoff basketball, anything can happen.”
