Mountain Brook Endures Dramatic Final Minute to Beat G.W. Carver In AHSAA Class 6A Boys’ Semifinals
By Josh Bean | For the AHSAA
BIRMINGHAM – Mountain Brook High School survived a wild final minute and earned a 46-43 victory over Carver-Montgomery in Wednesday’s Class 6A State Basketball Championships boys’ semifinals at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena.
The Spartans (27-7) led 44-39 with 1:06 to go, but the two teams combined to miss 11 free throws in the final drama-filled 46.6 seconds.
Leading 45-42 with 11.8 seconds remaining, Mountain Brook’s Ty Davis missed two free throws, and Carver-Montgomery hustled into the front court with a chance to tie. Davis, however, committed a foul to prevent the Wolverines from trying a game-tying 3-pointer.
Carver’s Conor McPherson made his first free throw to make it 45-43 with 5.2 seconds to go, then missed the second. The 6-foot-3 senior somehow rebounded his own miss and was fouled by Davis on his putback attempt with 3.1 seconds remaining.
Hear from Coach Tyler Davis from @mtnbrookhoops following his teams victory in the 6A semifinals pic.twitter.com/onA8dZUEer
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McPherson missed both free throws, and Mountain Brook’s Henry Hufman rebounded the miss and got fouled. He made 1-of-2 free throws with 1.6 seconds to go, and Carver was unable to get a shot off before the final horn.
“Survive and advance is the name of the game,” Mountain Brook coach Tyler Davis said. “It wasn’t our cleanest game, but we play on Saturday.”
Mountain Brook advances to play defending state champion Buckhorn in Saturday’s championship game, which is a rematch of the 2023 title game won by the Bucks.
“Heart-breaking,” Carver coach Reginald Sprouse said when asked about the final minute. “That hurts bad. It’s going to sit with them for a little while. It hurts.”
Ty Davis led Mountain Brook with 13 points and six assists, while Carson Romero had seven points. Hufman had five points and nine rebounds.
McPherson led Carver with 14 points, while Landon Parker, Amarian Griffin and Zander Frazier had seven points apiece. Frazier made a slam dunk and followed with a 3-point goal earlier in the second half to keep the Wolverines close.
Click here to check out schedules and scores from the 2024 AHSAA State Basketball Finals.
Play continues Wednesday with Class 5A girls’ and boys’ semifinals. Class 7A plays its semifinal games Thursday.
Championship games will begin Thursday in Class 1A. Finals for Classes 2A, 3A and 4A will be Friday, and Classes 5A, 6A and 7A close out the 2024 state tourney on Saturday.
All semifinal games are being live streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based platform and live on the AHSAA TV Network. All 14 state championship games will be aired live over the Alabama Public Television Network and live streamed over the NFHS Network.
