Infignos Media - Nine-win Munford Lions getting their shot in postseason

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Nine-win Munford Lions getting their shot in postseason

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Munford’s résumé doesn’t read like many of the 48 teams who’ve made their way to Jacksonville State University’s Pete Mathews Coliseum for the AHSAA’s Northeast Regional basketball tournament this week.

Forget being ranked. The Lions never received a vote in the Alabama Sports Writers Association poll. They aren’t county or area champions and they don’t have 20-plus wins. They don’t even have 10.

But after finishing as the Area 9 runners-up then traveling to Jacksonville where they downed the Golden Eagles 49-48 in the sub-regional round of the Class 4A state playoffs, they’ve got the same opportunity to advance in the postseason as the other 47 teams.

Munford (9-16) will take on Oneonta (25-5) today at 4:50 p.m. for a spot in Saturday’s 12:20 p.m. regional final. The winner of that game qualifies for next week’s Final 48 state tournament in Birmingham.

“They’re pretty confident,” Munford coach Isaiah Gaddis said of his team. “I told them in our meeting today, ‘You don’t have anything to lose. No one expects you to be here.”’

The Lions lost to Lincoln three times in the regular season but upset the Golden Bears in the opening round of the area tournament before falling to Childersburg in the final.

Prior to its matchup against Area 10 champion Jacksonville in the win-or-go home sub-regional round, Gaddis showed his team several game films of the Golden Eagles, some from this season and some from last year. After that, to motivate his boys a little more, he simply presented his them with the facts.

“They’d lost 12 games,” Gaddis said, referring to Jacksonville. “They weren’t unbeatable because they’d been beaten. I used the Lincoln game as the barometer. They beat Lincoln by one. We beat Lincoln by seven.”

The Lions fell behind 11 in the fourth but stormed back to defeat the Golden Eagles on a layup by junior Quan Richardson with three seconds to go.

Gaddis, The Star’s Area Coach of the Year last season, led the Lions to the regional tournament for the second season in a row despite losing 6-foot-6 center Brandon Graham and point guard Deonta Allen, each an all-area player in 2011.

He attributed his team’s struggles this season to its youth. Their record consists of losing streaks of three, seven and four.

The Lions’ lineup this season includes three sophomores, Monteo Garrett, Earl Moss and Terrious Williams, all of whom play major minutes. Richardson and senior Kendrick Handley were his only returners with significant varsity experience and Handley was his returning starter.

But Gaddis saw a change in his team after the Talladega County tournament in mid-January. “We still lost some games after that but they were really good games,” he said.

Today they’ll pitted against an Oneonta squad which features standout point guard Keenan Warren and sharp-shooter Ryne Wester.

The Redskins have won 13 of their last 15.

“It’s going to be a big challenge,” Gaddis said.

“But we’ve got to play like we don’t have anything to lose, keep the game close and see if we’ve got a chance to win at the end.”

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