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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – Late in the game in their sub-regional contest with the Calera Eagles, Chelsea Hornets coach Nicholas Baumbaugh looked out on the floor and saw two of his key players making crucial baskets: Demarquis Floyd scoring seven of his 11 points in the second half and Tyler Wells knocking down a trio of clutch free throws.

While the Hornets made the Class 7A Sweet 16 in 2024, Floyd, Wells and Camden Harper were all bench players. Their top scorer, Aiden Owens, was nowhere near the top of the stat sheet. Now, all four were playing key roles in helping their team return to regionals.

“Those guys rose to the moment,” Baumbaugh said. “They met all the demands I had of them, and I’m so excited for them because they’ve earned it. They did their job last year as juniors, and because they were selfless as juniors, look what’s happened for them as seniors.”

What’s happened is a 58-54 win over Calera on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Chelsea High School where Chelsea fought and clawed their way past one of the county’s biggest comeback stories in the Eagles to get into the Sweet 16 again with a new team and in a new classification.

Now, they will face the Paul W. Bryant Stampede on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Alabama State University in hopes of reaching the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.

“It’s really amazing,” Baumbaugh said. “I’m almost speechless because I didn’t expect for this team to go there. I knew we were capable, but I don’t know if you looked at this, especially in November, and go, ‘Hey, are we really going to be in the Sweet 16?”

However, the Hornets had to overcome a slow start before taking control.

It was all Eagles in the opening quarter as they held Chelsea scoreless from the field until 1:22 remained in the first quarter. Calera opened the game on a 10-1 run off baskets from Johnson and Carlos Wisenhunt Jr. to start it off followed by a pair from Darian Hamilton.

After the Eagles took an 11-3 lead into the second quarter, they extended the advantage to double digits in the opening minute of the quarter.

Garrett Mahone got a steal and a layup, and after Camden Harper hit a shot on the other end of the floor, Jamarcus Adams drained a 3-pointer at the other end to increase the lead to 11-5. Calera then forced a five-second call out of Chelsea, which put the Hornets in dire straits and in need of a response.

They got that off a pair of Floyd layups within 20 seconds of each other to slash the deficit to 16-9 and force an Eagles timeout. Jordan Garcia then hit a 3-pointer out of the timeout to keep the momentum flowing in the Hornets favor.

Calera worked the mid-range to success in response, using strong shots from Hamilton and Adams to extend the lead back to 20-12.

However, the Hornets went on a quick 6-0 run capped off by a pair of big plays from Owens, first a steal and an emphatic dunk to make it a one-possession game, then a layup off a baseline cut to tie the game at 20-20 with 3:27 left in the half.

The game continued to be up and down for the next few minutes as AJ Malone scored a pair of layups but was countered by the Eagles. In the end, the teams went into the halftime break tied at 26-26.

Chelsea flipped the game on its head to start the third quarter. A Harper 3-pointer kicked off a 12-2 run over the course of a minute and a half, and Garcia capped it off with a 3-pointer that electrified the home fans and forced a timeout from Calera’s George Drake with his team down 38-28 with 4:20 remaining in the third.

While the Eagles never led again after that, they certainly got close.

Calera quickly cut the deficit to eight off a Hamilton shot and then drew back within single digits during a bizarre play when the Eagles scored with six men on the floor. The basket counted but Calera got a technical foul, and the free throw put Chelsea back up double digits with 1:42 left in the third.

Kyle Brown scored for the Hornets in the final seconds of the third to put the Hornets in front 46-34 ahead of the fourth quarter.

Calera continued to hang around in the opening minutes of the fourth. Garrett Mahone made it a 10-point game again with a steal and a layup with 6:32 to go, but less than a minute later, Harper came up with another 3-pointer to extend the lead to 13.

That would be the most the Hornets led by for the rest of the game.

The Eagles went on an 8-1 run anchored by multiple strong baskets from Hamilton and a Devyn Goodman pull-up jumper, making the score 51-45 with 3:31 to go as Calera called timeout.

Chelsea would keep the Eagles at an arm’s length over the next few minutes, gaining the edge in a free throw shooting battle to keep it a two-possession game.

That all changed when Mahone drove in for a layup to make it a 3-point ballgame with 41 seconds left. It capped a sequence when Calera had the ball three straight times thanks to a pair of offensive rebounds off free throws.

The success on the boards continued after Wells extended the lead back to four with 27.9 seconds left. The Eagles snagged three offensive rebounds in a row to set up Goodman for a tip-in to cut the deficit to 56-54 with 9.7 seconds remaining.

However, Owens iced the game at the line by increasing the lead to four with 7.4 seconds left, and Calera failed to answer on the offensive end, finishing a wild game and putting the Hornets in the Sweet 16.

After the game, Baumbaugh chalked up the slow start to an extended preparation time ahead of the game. The Hornets got to the gym early and got shots up, and he believes that got them out of rhythm and wore them out a bit before the game. He credited them for recovering and securing the win.

“Luckily our guys were able to overcome that,” Baumbaugh said. “They played really well in that stretch in the second quarter, we made a good run. and then in the third quarter we had big shot after big shot, got that taken care of.”

Baumbaugh knows that his team performs best when it’s not just the Owens and Garcia show, and that happened against the Eagles.

Owens led all scorers with 14 points. Floyd joined him in double figures with 11 points while Malone scored eight points, Harper had seven points and Wells finished with five points.

Baumbaugh hopes that the entire team continues to perform well as they pursue a deep run at regionals.

“We know who our guys are,” Baumbaugh said. “We’ve told these guys all year that, ‘’We’re going through Aiden and Jordan, but the rest of you have got to step up,’ and tonight, that got done, but it takes us all.”

As for the Eagles, their year ends with a 17-14 record just one season removed from finishing just 5-26 as they completed a remarkable turnaround under Drake and his staff to come within reach of the Sweet 16.

Hamilton and Goodman each got into double figures and tied for the team-high with 13 points each. Mahone and Wisenhunt each scored seven points, Adams and Cayden Specks had five points apiece and Johnson rounded out the scoring with four points.

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