Spain Park wins coin toss, will host area tournament

Donnie Quinn was down on his luck. He said that out of a raffle of 100 tickets, he could buy 99 of them and still lose. But in this battle of 50/50, he chose heads. And he was right.

Mountain Brook athletic director Benny Eaves flipped the dirty, 1991-issue quarter up in the air, caught it, flipped it, and slammed it on the table in between Quinn and Spartan coach Bucky McMillan. Heads it was.

The purpose of the toss was to determine which school tied atop Class 7A, Area 6 would host the area boys basketball tournament. Spain Park and Mountain Brook split the head-to-head battles with each other and each finished with a 5-1 record. 

Last season, the teams flipped a coin as well, with Mountain Brook earning the right to host, as Spain Park fell to a scrappy Vestavia Hills team in the first round.

This year, the draw is just the opposite. The Jags will take on Hewitt-Trussville -- who lost a subsequent coin toss to Vestavia Hills for third place -- in the semifinal round of the area tournament.

By winning its own coin flip, Vestavia Hills draws the third seed and will play second-seeded Mountain Brook.

The semifinal round will take place Thursday, Feb. 11. Mountain Brook vs. Vestavia Hills will be at 6 p.m., followed by Spain Park vs. Hewitt-Trussville at 7:30 p.m.