Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Keith boys basketball team has a tradition of getting to regionals.

They have made every Class 1A Sweet 16 during the 2020s decade.

The Bears (13-15) continued that tradition with a 49-46 win at South Lamar (18-13) on Saturday afternoon. Keith now prepares for Maplesville (16-3) on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome on the campus of Alabama State University.

Head coach Marcus Turner knows that anything less is just unacceptable for the program.

“We’re a basketball school, and making the regionals has been a tradition of Keith,” Turner said. “We’ve done that every year since I’ve been here, and they did a couple of years before I got here. So if you don’t get to regionals, then you didn’t have a successful season. I was proud of our team finding a way to do that again this year.”

Keith held the lead for the entire game against South Lamar. Turner said the lead grew to double digits, but South Lamar made it a game down the stretch.

Turner said he was disappointed with the way they finished against R.C. Hatch on Thursday night in the Class 1A, Area 5 championship game.

“I kinda felt like the team quit a little bit down the stretch,” Turner said. “That’s one thing our teams don’t do, and so I stressed that to the team. They came out and played much better on Saturday.”

Jason Moseley led the team for the first time in his career with 15 points, making five 3-pointers. Miles Hannah, Derick Hall and Titus Lanier all had 10 points each as they held off South Lamar.

Now, the team turns their focus to Maplesville, whose only losses are to Francis Marion, Dallas County and Jemison, which won the Class 5A Area 5 championship over Selma.

Turner said he’s not trying to make a big deal about playing in the regional semifinals, preparing the same they would for any other opponent.

“I don’t think we are going to take a fan bus or anything like that for this game,” Turner said. “I don’t really want to make a big deal about the game. The first year I got here, we made it to the regional finals, but we’ve come up short the last two years. So right now, we are focused on this game and trying to get over the hump.”

The winner of Keith-Maplesville will play on Monday, Feb. 17, at 2:15 p.m.

The game will be streamed on NFHS Network. Tickets are $12.