Oak Mountain outpaces Oxford behind 28 from Williams

Published 11:41 pm Friday, November 10, 2023

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Oak Mountain Eagles earned their first win of the season, but they needed every bit of Grey Williams’ 28-point performance to keep the Oxford Yellow Jackets at arm’s length.

The Eagles walked away with a 69-59 win over the Jackets on Thursday, Nov. 9 at home.

In the first quarter, Gray Plaia and Chris Kunard each scored five points, which made up more than half of Oak Mountain’s 19 points in the period.

Those points came off a flurry of shots to start the game as the Eagles looked to jump ahead and establish an early lead.

While Oak Mountain did lead going into the second quarter, it was only a three-point advantage as Oxford scored 16 in the quarter to trail just 19-16.

From there, Williams exploded for a trio of three-pointers, scoring 13 points by himself to help the Eagles continue to stay in from.

Overall, Oak Mountain dropped 22 in the second quarter, which countered a strong effort of 19 points in the same timespan by Oxford. The Eagles took a 41-35 lead into the second half.

Kunard and Williams anchored the offense in the third quarter, but it was the team free throws by Oak Mountain that truly made the difference.

The Eagles went a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line in the third quarter to increase their lead by four to 59-49.

That success from the stripe was once again the case in the fourth quarter, as Williams made all four of his free throws down the stretch and Plaia went 3-for-4 in the fourth, which wrapped up a 69-59 win for the Eagles.

Williams’ 28 points led all Oak Mountain scorers, but two more Eagles scored 10 or more points. Kunard scored 13 in the game, while Plaia had 10 points and six rebounds.

In addition, Blake Benson had seven points and six rebounds.