Spain Park’s offense leads to season sweep of Hewitt

Published 10:18 am Wednesday, January 23, 2019

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

TRUSSVILLE – Spain Park scored in double digits in all four quarters of an area road game at Hewitt-Trussville on Tuesday, Jan. 22, to complete the season sweep of the Huskies with a slim 67-65 victory.

The game was controlled by Spain Park throughout and a lot less stressful than the buzzer-beating win a week earlier thanks to the Jaguars’ strong offensive presence which became apparent from the start of the game with one of their best overall quarters of the season to this point.

Thanks to five points from Parker Boswell, Austin Laatsch and Cam Crawford, as well as points from three other players and three 3-pointers, Spain Park (6-20, 2-3) was able to put up 22 points in the first period of the game.

With that strong play offensively, the Jags had a spark on the defensive end of the floor and played with a lot of momentum, which helped their defense limit the Huskies to just three field goals in the opening frame to give Spain Park a 22-11 advantage heading to the second.

Hewitt played much better on both sides of the ball in the second quarter, but it was still Spain Park playing with an extra edge.

The Jags got two key 3-pointers from Laatsch in the period, while five other players entered the scoring column for a balanced offensive frame featuring 15 more points.

The Huskies had their chances to make the game much closer in the quarter, but couldn’t capitalize on multiple free throw opportunities going 3-8 from the line.

Hewitt did hit five field goals in the period, but that wasn’t enough as the Jags outscored the Huskies 15-13 in the quarter to extend the lead to 37-24 at the half.

Coming out of the halftime break, however, the Huskies made their adjustments and were able to start capitalizing on opportunities after seeing shots fall in the second quarter.

Mike Edwards was a big reason for their success in the third as he caught fire and posted 11 points in the quarter behind five field goals, including one 3-pointer.

He was also joined by five other players scoring in the quarter, which led to a 23-point frame for Hewitt—exactly what the Huskies needed to climb back in the game.

Luckily for the Jaguars, Isaiah Walton was able to post six points of his own thanks in large part to a 4-4 mark at the free throw line, while Grant Sims and JR Lambert each hit 3-pointers to help them post 18 points of their own in the quarter.

While the Huskies had outscored Spain Park by five points, the Jags were still able to maintain their lead at 55-47 heading to the final period.

Hewitt, however, continued the climb back throughout the fourth quarter and trimmed the lead down to six with 4:30 left to play and seven points with 2:40 left to play.

With the Jags only hitting one of their five free throws in the quarter, it left the door open in the final two minutes of the game, but with 12.8 seconds left, Spain Park still held a 66-62 lead.

Jacob Jenkins was able to make the Jags’ only free throw of the quarter shortly after that to make it a 67-62 lead before Hewitt drained a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left in the game to make it a 67-65 game.

Time, however, was on Spain Park’s side as the Jags were able to close out the final 4.9 seconds to hold on for the 67-65 victory.

Laatsch ended the game with 16 points for Spain Park, while Cam Crawford added 11 points and Isaiah Walton added 10 points. The Jags got points from nine different players in the win.