Oak Mountain improves to 12-0 with road trip to Pelham

Published 5:08 pm Thursday, December 12, 2024

By Andrew Simonson

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

PELHAM – The Oak Mountain Eagles’ perfect record will live on for another game after overcoming a tough road environment to secure their 12th win of the season.

Oak Mountain improved to 12-0 on the season with a 70-52 win over the Pelham Panthers on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at Pelham High School.

The game also represented a homecoming for Eagles coach Joel Floyd who coached at Pelham before moving to OMHS, and his team made sure it was a good return with an explosive start.

Oak Mountain erupted for 23 points in the first quarter. In his second game back in the lineup, Chris Kunard scored six points in the first to pair with two field goals from Rocco Plaia.

Seven different Eagles earned their way onto the scoresheet in the opening period as part of a balanced attack. The defense also largely kept the Panthers quiet outside of Kendall Smith, giving the visitors a 23-8 lead after one quarter of play.

The fast and furious scoring pace continued into the second quarter. Chase Lamey knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to go with his one make from the first, going 3-for-4 from deep for the half.

Patton Knight, Will Patterson and Blake Benson joined Lamey in hitting multiple field goals in the second quarter, combining for 21 points in all during that stretch.

Smith continued to carry the load for Pelham, scoring seven of his team’s 12 points to get into double figures for the first half. It wasn’t enough to cut the deficit though and Oak Mountain went into halftime with a commanding 44-20 led.

However, the Panthers wouldn’t go down easy and showed tremendous fight in the third quarter.

Smith continued his strong shooting night, getting seven points for the second-straight quarter. This time though, he got lots of help thanks to a pair of Jacob Gibbs 3-pointers and five points from Sam Tolbert.

Pelham carried that momentum to the other side of the court, quieting Oak Mountain’s hot hands to outscore the Eagles 20-8 in the third quarter. That slashed the deficit to 53-40 heading into the fourth quarter.

Oak Mountain’s offense found much more success in the final period to stem the bleeding and see out the victory. Lamey tacked on six points to his total and Kunard added five points as the pair combined for 11 of their team’s 17 fourth-quarter points.

In the end, that proved to be enough to secure the 18-point victory and continue their undefeated run.

Lamey led the Eagles with 17 points. Two of his teammates joined him in double figures as Patterson and Kunard each scored 12 points. Knight dropped nine points, Plaia posted eight points, Benson added six points and Will O’Dell came away with four points in the win.

As for Pelham, Smith led all scorers with a game-high 20 points. Gibbs scored eight points, Tolbert secured seven points, Jayden Robinson had six points and Eli Lewis earned four points.

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