AMS ball teams see success this season

Published 12:01 am Thursday, December 12, 2013

Andalusia’s Grant Holley (bottom) goes for the ball during the Bulldogs’ T.R. Miller game earlier this season. | Andrew Garner/Star-News

Andalusia’s Grant Holley (bottom) goes for the ball during the Bulldogs’ T.R. Miller game earlier this season. | Andrew Garner/Star-News

All three Andalusia Middle School basketball teams have had successful seasons in 2013.

The eighth grade boys, the seventh grade boys and the seventh and eighth grade girls teams will conclude their seasons tonight against Charles Henderson in Troy.

AMS coach Robert Jackson, who coaches the eighth grade boys, said the players on all teams have worked really hard this season.

“They listen real well,” Jackson said. “They’re committed to our system. When we’re not playing, we’re practicing. They practice every day, and some on Saturdays.

“We’ve been really blessed,” he said.

Going into tonight’s game, the eighth grade boys are 14-1 on the season and are riding a 13-game win streak. The seventh grade boys are 8-0. The girls are 15-1.

The only loss for the eighth grade boys came to Opp by three points. The girls lost to CHHS, just the other night. Each team plays another twice during the season.

AMS girls coach Alfagus Smith said the season for his girls has gone “better than I had expected it to.”

“I had some seventh grade girls step up, and the eighth grade girls who played last year are doing good job,” Smith said.

Smith said a big key to his team’s success has been its defense.

“We’ve got a 1-2-2 press,” he said. “They’re real aggressive and score a lot of points on layups.

“That’s what we strive on, our defense pressing all over the floor,” he said.

For Jackson and his boys, it’s been all about “fundamentals.”

“We push dribbling and shooting drills at practice,” Jackson said. “We put in the extra time when we can. The plays we put in, they know them.

“They just do a really good job,” he said. “They work hard, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of boys.”

Highlights for the eighth grade boys and girls teams include winning the Elba Tournament earlier this season, and winning against T.R. Miller, Charles Henderson, Georgiana, Opp, Pleasant Home, Dauphin, Elba and Evergreen.

To celebrate these successful seasons, the Bulldogs will hold their annual basketball banquet on Tuesday night at 6 in the middle school cafeteria.