Local coaches say summer basketball can be key to regular season wins
Red Bay’s Cody Reynolds takes a shot against Waterloo during a summer game at Phil Campbell Thursday. | Scot Beard/FCT
PHIL CAMPBELL — Eight high school basketball teams met in Phil Campbell Thursday to play eight games in eight hours in one hot gym.
Though the conditions were miserable for players, the coaches would not have had it any other way.
“I like that it is hot,” Red Bay coach Greg Cash said. “I can see how the kids react when they get tired.”
It was not only heat that tired the players. The schedule called for each of the participating teams to play a pair of games.
During the high school season games consist of four eight-minute quarters. Summer ball games are played with two 20-minutes halves with a running clock that only stops for timeouts and during the final minute of each half.
The pace and the heat are grueling, but it gives coaches a chance to learn about their team.
No coach in the county needs to learn more about his team than new Phil Campbell coach Will Copeland.
“Playing two games in one day is all about seeing the character of your kids,” Copeland said.
The Bobcats lost both of their games, but Copeland liked the effort he saw from his squad. Phil Campbell opened the day with a 51-40 loss to Waterloo, but rebounded in the second game to erase a double-digit deficit at halftime to tie Brilliant with less than a minute to play before falling 57-53.
“They gave great effort,” Copeland said. “But they have to combine effort and getting results from that effort.”
He said that it might be a good thing that his team lost both games because it should provide motivation as the summer workouts progress.
“We’ll see if the parents and players stick with working hard to get better,” Copeland said. “If they do, that’s a great attitude.”
While Copeland got his first look at his squad in game action since taking over the program last Saturday, Cash said the summer games are valuable teaching time for his program.
He said the games provide him an opportunity to implement all the plays his team to run in the up coming season. While he does not expect his team to remember all the plays when fall practice starts, it keeps him from having to start from scratch.
“We don’t get the guys that also play football until November,” Cash said. “These games give us extra teaching time we lose in the fall.”
Cash liked what he saw from his team Thursday. The Tigers won both of their games, defeating Waterloo 56-43 and Phillips 32-28.
Cash was happy the Tigers won both of their games because he feels it builds confidence heading into the season.
He said Red Bay’s 10-6 record last summer helped the Tigers reach the sub-regional round of the state playoffs.
Both coaches will get to see their teams in action again Tuesday when Red Bay hosts a summer play date.
Vina and Tharptown also participated in the play date at Phil Campbell.
Tharptown lost to Haleyville 44-30 before rebounding to defeat Brilliant 53-52 with a buzzer-beating shot.
Vina lost both of its games. The Red Devils fell to Haleyville 43-27 and Phillips 48-29.
