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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Oak Mountain Eagles couldn’t have asked for a better way to open up the season off a state championship than the performance they got on Saturday, Nov. 13.

From the opening 3-pointer drained by Ean Gove to the final buzzer, the Eagles’ offense picked up right where it left off last year, while the defense was in lock-down mode en route to a 64-52 win against Mae Jemison.

A big reason for the success was the sharp shooting from beyond the arc for the Eagles, which started early in the game.

Mae Jemison answered Oak Mountain’s 3-pointer with a 5-0 run, but the Eagles responded with consecutive made shots from beyond the arc from Brady Dunn and Ryan Geigel.

That sparked an 11-1 run that put the Eagles in front 14-6.

The Jaguars answered back with a late push in the opening quarter, but Oak Mountain still took a 16-11 lead at the end of one.

At that point, the Eagles seemed to be confident offensively, which led to strong pressure defensively and several fast-break opportunities.

With both sides of the ball playing so well, Oak Mountain opened up an 11-point lead at 24-13 early in the second quarter.

From there, a back-and-forth battle that saw Mae Jemison outscore Oak Mountain 11-10 the rest of the quarter led to the Eagles taking a 34-24 lead into the half.

With both teams making adjustments defensively at the half, the two offenses struggled to produce at the same pace in the third quarter.

Oak Mountain’s defense, however, played at its highest level of the game, holding the Jaguars to single digits in the quarter with seven points.

The Eagles found a way to put up 12 more points.

They extended the lead to 15 points when Dunn hit a 3-pointer to make the score 44-29, and it eventually grew to 20 on a 3-pointer shortly after from Giegel to make it 54-34.

Oak Mountain eventually built it up to 22 points before the Jags fought back with a strong 21 points in the final quarter, but there wasn’t enough time to overcome the deficit, as the Eagles pulled out the 12-point victory.

Giegel led the way for Oak Mountain in the opener thanks to five 3-pointers. He finished with 17 points and six rebounds, while Matthew Heiberger matched Giegel’s rebounds and totaled 13 points.

Wilder Evers chipped in 13 points, while Dunn gave the Eagles four in double figures with 10 points. Dunn also added eight rebounds to lead Oak Mountain on the glass in the win.