Eagles soar to 1st state title
BIRMINGHAM – Unbelievable.
That’s about the only word Noah Young could come up with after winning the state championship, as the moment washed over him and the rest of his teammates on Wednesday evening.
For the first time in school history, the Oak Mountain High School boys basketball team was the last one standing. The Eagles defeated Enterprise 41-37 in the Class 7A state championship game at Bartow Arena.
“What a game,” Oak Mountain head coach Chris Love said.
After a sluggish first half for both sides, after which Oak Mountain led 11-8, the game began to pick up in the third quarter. The two sides went back and forth in that third quarter and Oak Mountain took a 22-20 lead into the final frame.
Enterprise started hot in the fourth and took a 27-22 lead with just under six minutes to play. Evan Smith knocked down a shot while absorbing a foul and Matthew Heiberger responded with a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 27-27. Heiberger was huge for the Eagles, securing eight rebounds to lead the team in addition to that clutch shot.
Both teams continued to trade punches. Wilder Evers tied the game with a drive to the hoop and after another Enterprise bucket, Noah Young drained a 3 from the top of the key to put the Eagles ahead 32-31. That would be the final time the lead changed hands.
“I was just living in the moment,” Young said.
Young scored 10 points in the game, none bigger than that game-changing 3.
“He’s been unbelievable all year long,” Love said of Young. “An unbelievable leader and an unbelievable young man.”
Smith converted six free throws in the final 1:09 to ice the game away. He finished the game with a team-leading 13 points and also registered four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
“If we need a big throw, Evan’s the one we want at the line,” Love said.
The game certainly had its share of obstacles for the Eagles. Starting guard Brady Dunn went down with a knee injury just over a minute in and was unable to return.
“It [adversity] slapped us right in the face again and they never wavered,” Love said. “We could’ve phoned it in then. We could’ve phoned it when Enterprise did a great job coming back in the second half. And we didn’t, we just kept on fighting.”
Will Shaver, the 6-foot-11 junior forward, finished the game with seven points and seven rebounds. He also blocked a pair of shots and altered several others.
“Every game, it’s me trying to do what the team needs to win and that’s what matters,” Shaver said.
Josh McCray led Enterprise with 18 points.
Oak Mountain “rode the coattails” of its defense to the championship game. Over the final three games of the seasons, the Eagles allowed 30, 37 and 37 points.
“We’ve talked about that’s how you win championships and that’s what happened,” Love said.
Love specifically mentioned Evers for his stout defensive performance, just a day after his offensive exploits were critical in Oak Mountain’s win over Auburn. That’s how the Eagles have done it all year long. They lost nine games during the year, but needed contributions from everyone as the team finally got healthy over the final stretch of the season.
“We were going to have to do it together, and I don’t think it could’ve turned out any other way than it did, because it took every single one of us to get it done,” Love said.
After the regional final, Love said his primary responsibility as head coach was to ensure the charter bus arrived at the venue on time, giving his assistant coaches and players all the credit for the team’s performance.
That is an obvious exaggeration, but there was no one more eager than Love to grab the state championship trophy and jubilantly run it back to his players at the conclusion of a long season.
“I’m so happy for our coaches and our kids,” he said.