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By Carey Reeder
The Clanton Advertiser

MONTGOMERY — Keith High School used a big mid-game run to defeat Maplesville High School 60-39 in the Class 1A Sweet 16 on Feb. 11 at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome on the campus of Alabama State University in Montgomery.

Keith’s Titus Lanier Jr. led all scorers with 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting, and the Bears forced 29 Maplesville turnovers en route to the win.

Devon Nix broke the ice for Maplesville to go up 2-0, but Keith jumped straight into their full-court pressure to keep the Red Devils uneasy. Pearce Yeargan checked in and immediately gave Maplesville a spark with a quick 5-0 run himself to put them ahead 10-8. Lanier Jr. got off to a quick start for Keith keeping things close early, but Maplesville held a 13-12 lead after the opening frame.

The teams went back and forth to start the second quarter with Miles Hannah hitting an “and-1” layup and it being answered with a 3-pointer from Aidan Abbott. With the score 19-18 and the Red Devils leading midway through the second quarter, Keith’s defensive pressure was turned up. The Bears ended the first half on a 12-1 run, forced 15 Maplesville turnovers in the first half and 12 of Lanier Jr.’s 21 points helped build a 30-20 lead at halftime.

“We pride ourselves on applying pressure on defense, and coming into this game we said ‘If we play good defense, then our defense will lead to offense,’” Keith head coach Marcus Turner said.

Keith carried over the momentum and the run bloomed to 18-1 and the lead to 36-20 after halftime. A Nehemiah McCary dunk ended the run, but Maplesville still trailed by 12, 38-26 with just over two minutes left in the quarter. As time expired in the frame, Lanier Jr. drove left before pulling up for a jumper and hitting it with a few seconds left to give Keith the 42-29 advantage.

McCary had 11 points and eight rebounds, followed by Jakobe Nix with nine points and four steals and Yeargan with seven points.

“It pays off to have a team who has been practicing the whole season, and it is hard to compete against that,” Maplesville head coach Undra Rush said. “Keith is a known basketball school, and for us to get to this point for the amount of time we had to prepare shows a lot about our boys and where the program is headed. We are excited just to be here, and hopefully next year we will be back.”

Maplesville’s comeback bid got the lead down to nine points in the fourth quarter, but McCary fouled out with 6:41 left in the game to take some much-needed size off the court. Lanier Jr. controlled the game in the fourth quarter, much like he has the entire season for Keith while Hannah was sidelined by injury for a bit. Lanier Jr. has grown throughout his senior season, and now has the Bears one win away from Birmingham. Hannah’s no-look pass to Jarius Sanders for a dunk iced the game away down the stretch.

Hannah had 15 points and four assists, and Sanders had 10 points. Eric Hall added nine points and eight rebounds for Keith.

“That is what he has been doing for us all season, and we are fortunate enough to have him,” Turner said. “Titus has been doing an awesome job for us night in and night out, he controls the game, controls the tempo and that is what we have been trying to do.”

The win sets up Keith for its fourth meeting of the season with R.C. Hatch High School in the central regional final. The two Class 1A Area 5 rivals split the two regular season matchups this season, and R.C. Hatch won the area tournament final 60-46 to lead the season series 2-1.

“We are ready, we have some time to rest and we are going to put our best foot forward trying to get to the Final Four,” Turner said.

Keith and R.C. Hatch will play on Feb. 17 at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome in Montgomery, and a start time will be announced shortly.