Photo courtesy of Chris Love
Oak Mountain Basketball
Oak Mountain after winning the Jemison Christmas Tournament in December 2015.
Regulation was not enough to decide the regular season winner of Class 7A, Area 5.
But a few extra minutes did the trick, as Oak Mountain defeated Hoover, 66-61, in overtime on Saturday night to seal the area championship, giving the Eagles the right to host the area tournament.
Payton Youngblood and Wyatt Armstrong were superb, each scoring 16 points in the game for the Eagles. Not far behind was Will Stephenson, who poured in 14 of his own.
Hoover's (12-13, 4-2 in area) Jamari Blackmon also scored 16 points on the night. Kevy Eason and Justin Rumph gave each team three double-digit scorers, as they scored 11 apiece.
The Bucs outscored the Eagles 22-15 in the second period to take a ten-point lead into halftime. Oak Mountain (17-7, 5-1) chipped away at the lead throughout the second half, tying the game with just under a minute to play, as Hoover was held to just seven points in the fourth quarter.
Oak Mountain outscored Hoover 10-5 in the overtime period.
Both teams return to action early next week, for the final regular season phase before area tournament play begins. Hoover hosts Fairfield on Monday, and Oak Mountain travels to Spain Park on Tuesday.
In the girls matchup preceding the boys game, the Lady Bucs took care of business and won 41-28. Miya Kimber led Hoover with 12 points, followed by Eboni Williams' nine. Hoover raced out to a 21-10 halftime advantage and never gave it up.
The win gives the Lady Bucs the opposite fortune of the boys team, as they will host their area tournament.
