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Oak Mountain's boys basketball team celebrated three seniors on Monday, Jan. 28, and picked up a win against Chelsea in the process. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

NORTH SHELBY – While the Oak Mountain Eagles’ boys basketball team is as deep as it’s been in several years, the majority of the squad is made up of freshmen, sophomores and juniors, but the key to any good team is seniority, and on Monday, Jan. 28, the Eagles honored their three seniors on senior night with a home game against rival Chelsea.

Antheny Carey, Drew Dunn and Turner Youngblood were all celebrated for their contributions to the Oak Mountain basketball team and played a key part in leading the Eagles to a dominant 62-46 victory for possibly the last time on their home floor.

Dunn, who has been a consistent scorer all season, posted 16 points to lead the Eagles, while Carey posted 10 points, eight of which came in the first half. Youngblood posted two points in the final quarter to close out his home career with points, and while he may not have led the team in scoring, his effort on both ends sometimes goes unnoticed for what he’s able to do for the team.

In the opening quarter of the game, Oak Mountain was able to get at least three points from four different players with Dunn posting five points and both Carey and Noah Young adding four, while Zane Nelson drained a 3-pointer.

Chelsea, on the other hand, was unable to get anything going offensively and saw just two players post points in the period with Daniel Washington getting two post buckets and Holton Smith knocking down one 3-pointer.

Those struggles spilled over into the second quarter with Chelsea being limited to single digits for the second quarter in a row posting just eight more points. Washington and Jacob Tierney each posted three points, while Andrew Messier added two more, but several of the key players were unable to get going offensively.

Defensively, however, the Hornets were able to up their game in the period, holding the Eagles to just 12 points in the frame. A big reason for that was an 0-3 mark from the free throw line in the period from a team that is normally on fire from the stripe.

Still though, Oak Mountain was able to extend its lead to 13 points at the half at 28-15.

After that 0-3 mark from the free throw line in the second quarter, the Eagles made up for it coming out of the halftime break and didn’t let up again.

In the third quarter, Oak Mountain was able to shoot 8-9 from the free throw line, while also hitting two 3-pointers and a field goal to post 16 points in the frame.

The Hornets were able to show some flashes of offense in the quarter thanks to four points apiece from Messier and Bryant Royster, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Eagles from extending their lead for the third quarter in a row as they led 44-27 heading to the final frame.

In the fourth, Oak Mountain really let loose offensively with six different players scoring to help the Eagles post 18 points. They also shot 7-8 from the free throw line in the quarter to close the game out.

Chelsea posted its best quarter of the game with 19 points in the period, but with the deficit so large, it was too little too late as the Eagles pulled out the 62-46 win.

Behind Dunn with 16 points was Young with 12 points, while Carey and Nelson both added 10 points. In all, the Eagles got points from nine different players.

Chelsea was led by 13 points from Washington, while eight others added points as well.

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