BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- An improbable run by the Bearcats came to an end on Saturday.
With the 6A State Championship on the line, Cullman faced off against no. 1 Oxford at Legacy Arena. The Yellow Jackets looked the part of a no. 1 team from the start, with their swarming defense, shifty backcourt and overwhelming athleticism earning them an early lead. Cullman struck back with a strong second quarter, but Oxford rebounded. They’d build on their lead after the break, and despite a cleaner second half from Cullman, the Bearcats fell 68-44, earning 6A state runner-up honors.
In the loss, the Bearcats turned the ball over 26 times and allowed Oxford to shoot 52% on the afternoon, with 31 Yellow Jacket points coming off turnovers.
“I liked our game plan going in. I thought if we could take care of the ball, we’d have a really good chance to do it, but we had 26 turnovers. And it’s really hard to win a championship game when you have 26 turnovers,” Cullman head coach Stu Stuedeman said after the game.
The onslaught of turnovers started early. Cullman senior Gray Hopper went back and forth with Oxford in the opening moments, hitting a fadeaway jumper and a layup, but Oxford’s energy broke free soon after. Yellow Jacket guard Jalen Alexander, the eventual State Tournament MVP, scored on three straight possessions starting with a deep three from the top of the arc. The Bearcats, quickly in an 18-4 hole, gave up the ball on five times in a row, with the landslide coming to a halt with an Owen Graves three. Oxford’s Chris Latson put an exclamation point on the 22-7 lead with a jam, keeping all the energy on the Yellow Jackets’ sideline.
Against the tide of momentum, Cullman largely returned to form in the second quarter. Sam Dorough opened the frame with a steal that led to a Colt Fletcher layup, then Everett Swindall drained a three from the corner to make it 22-12. The Bearcats still struggled to generate offensive rhythm, but their defense clamped down on Oxford, holding the Yellow Jackets scoreless for the first six-and-a-half minutes of the quarter. A couple more Dorough scores made it 22-16, and it felt like another Cullman comeback was in the works. Oxford flipped the script, however, with a chaotic final 60 seconds. Marcus Perry threw down a vicious dunk, then Alexander picked a ball off and returned it for another jam, snatching momentum back and taking a 27-16 lead into halftime.
Still riding that energy, Oxford came out strong in the second half, giving Cullman a “nightmare start” to the third quarter, in Stuedeman’s words. The Bearcats turned the ball over twice out of the gate, with the Yellow Jackets capitalizing with three straight layups to stretch their lead. Loftin and Hopper responded with a dunk and a three-pointer, but Oxford went on a 10-0 run late to eventually take a 47-27 lead into the final frame.
The Bearcats played their best offensive quarter of the game in the fourth, shooting 6-9 from the floor, but they were unable to slow down the Yellow Jackets. Oxford went on to seal a 68-44 win to take the state title.
After the game, Stuedeman credited Oxford head coach Joel Van Meter, saying “That dude’s a grinder. He works so hard. He’s a great coach, and he’s been at it for so long and he’s been so close and he finally got there. I like talking basketball with him, I love how his team has always played, how he always works and I’m just so proud for him, because there’s so many great coaches who coach for so long, and do a lot of really good things, but don’t win it.”
Leading the Bearcats in scoring was Gray Hopper with 12 points along with two assists. Dorough, despite shooting 2-7, scored eight, grabbed two rebounds and recorded four steals. Both were selected to the All-Tournament team.
Before the press conference could conclude after the game, Stuedeman grabbed the microphone to recognize the two. “I’ve had Gray Hopper for three years and I’ve had Sam Dorough for three years, and not penciling them in the scorebook is going to hurt. What they left here is incredible. You know, it’s still a shock for Cullman to be in the Final Four… these guys are great basketball players, but they’re better people. They work hard every day, and they’ve just inspired another group of little kids to want to play basketball at a place like Cullman,” Stuedeman said. He added, “As long as we have players like Brooks Loftin, Sam Dorough, Max Brooks, Owen Graves, Colt Fletcher and the rest of those kids in the locker room- as long as we get those type of kids, we will be here year in and year out, or have a chance to be.”
