BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — Hunter Wilder scored 23 points, and The Oaks School built a 31-point halftime lead on the way to a 90-23 rout of The Rock Academy in a high school boys basketball season opener Tuesday night.
Noah Shabo and Kaleb Daniels each added 10 points for the Mighty Oaks (1-0), who got points from 11 players. Daniels scored all 10 of his points in the third quarter. Titus Dean, Elijah Dean and Christian McDonald each scored 9.
Carter Donaldson led the Lions (0-1) with 8 points, and Carter Tice added 5.
The Oaks jumped ahead by 11 points less than four minutes into the game. The Rock answered with a push near the midway point of the first quarter, but The Oaks turned offensive rebounds into second-chance points and led 20-10 after one.
The Mighty Oaks’ defense took over in the second quarter, holding the Lions to one field goal while outscoring them 23-2 for a 43-12 halftime lead.
Coming out of halftime, The Rock struggled with shot selection and began to go cold from the free-throw line as The Oaks pushed the lead to 62-16 with about four minutes left in the period. The Mighty Oaks outscored the Lions 35-11 in the quarter to lead 78-23.
With the result out of the question, The Oaks drove the lane for easy layups in the fourth quarter and held the Lions scoreless, though fouls continued to send The Rock Academy to the line. The Oaks held the ball for most of the final three minutes under a running clock, which Alabama Independent School Association rules require when a team leads by 30 or more points in the fourth quarter.
Despite the lopsided result, Oaks head coach Everett Thomas said his team has plenty to fix, pointing to turnovers and unnecessary fouls. The Lions made 12 of 20 free throws, and Thomas said his players need to keep their hands off opponents.
“We got a lot to clean up, but I’m proud of the tenacity they had,” Thomas said. “That’s something we’ll work on at practice [moving forward].”
Thomas credited his team’s aggressiveness to the work put in over the summer and said the Mighty Oaks embrace being the underdog.
“Anytime we can start the season 1-0, I’m happy,” he said. “I don’t care who we play.”
Wilder said the game exposed areas the team needs to improve.
“It feels really good to start the season right,” Wilder said. “There are a lot of things we need to work on, but this exposed everything in the game that we need to work on.”
Wilder said the Mighty Oaks kept their intensity despite the big lead.
“No matter who we play, we’ll play 100% from start to finish,” he said.
The Oaks host Grace Christian School (Georgia) at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29.
