The Enterprise boys basketball team will get another shot at its first state championship.
The fifth-ranked Wildcats scored 16 of the first 19 points Thursday morning and never trailed in downing Spain Park 73-58 in the Class 7A state semifinals at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.
“It’s special. It truly is,” Enterprise coach Rhett Harrelson said. “This doesn’t come around every single year. We’re very fortunate. We have really good players who are really good kids who listen and buy in to what we are doing. It’s special to be here and put ourselves in a position to be in the state championship game. We fell short last year. We remember that and want to come back stronger and finish.”
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Enterprise (24-6) lost to Oak Mountain 41-37 in last year’s championship game. The Wildcats will play either No. 1 Baker or No. 10 James Clemens in Saturday’s finale at 5:45 p.m.
What’s the message this year?
“Don’t be satisfied,” senior Elijah Terry said.
The Wildcats clearly weren’t satisfied Thursday.
Kenneth Mitchell Jr. scored seven of his 16 points in the opening spurt. Enterprise led 16-3 with 3:44 left in the third quarter. Spain Park (27-8) never truly recovered.
“They came out and got after it,” Jaguars coach Chris Laatsch said. “Our kids withstood it and came back but couldn’t quite get over the hump. I thought their physicality and aggressive play made it difficult for us to get started. We’ve been playing in front most of the year. Today, we had to play from behind and that’s not who we are.”
Spain Park was able rally and stay in contention for a while. The Jaguars finished the quarter on a 9-2 run and scored the first two baskets of the second quarter to cut the Enterprise lead to 18-16. That’s as close as they got the rest of the way.
“We have talked with our guys all week about relentless pressure and defending for 94 feet,” Harrelson said. “We talked about playing with a toughness and an intensity. I could not be more proud of our guys for doing that for four quarters.”
Enterprise led 26-21 at the half. Spain Park cut the lead to 26-23 on Colin Turner’s layup as the second half started. But the Wildcats finished the period on a 17-4 run and led 43-27 heading to the fourth. Their largest lead was 18 (59-41) with 4:51 left in the game.
“It was nice to get off to a fast start the way we did especially the way we were flying around,” Harrelson said. “It certainly jolted us forward. With the style we play, it’s not necessarily about how you start but how you finish and how you respond when things aren’t going your way. But I’d be lying if I told you the start didn’t help.”
Star of the game: Elijah Terry finished with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. He was 6-of-10 from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line.
Stat sheet: Enterprise – Kenneth Mitchell Jr. finished with 16 points. Keion Dunlap had 12 and Tomar Hobdy had 10 points, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals. Spain Park – Josh Harrington had 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Colin Turner had 17 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocks. Chase James finished with 10 points.
By the Numbers: Enterprise scored 20 points off 20 Spain Park turnovers. The Wildcats shot 29-of-51 from the field (56.9 percent) and 13-of-29 from the foul line. Spain Park was 21-of-46 from the field, 7-of-17 from the 3-point line and 9-of-12 from the foul line.
Did you know? Enterprise and Spain Park met in the 2021 semifinals. The Wildcats won that one as well, 57-56 in double overtime.
Coachspeak:
“Anytime you are here, it is really, really special. We are fortunate to be back for the second year in a row. Today, we took care of business. It’s a little surreal right now.” – Harrelson.
They said it:
“We knew how good Colin was in the post. We wanted to try to get it up and down as much as we could. We felt like they had the advantage in a half-court game, so we wanted to make it a full-court, up-and-down game and we were able to do that for a pretty good chunk of the time.” – Harrelson.
“We were sitting here a year ago with that team and lost eight seniors – guys we counted on. I don’t know how many people thought we could have gotten back here, but the kids did. A lot of the credit goes to these two guys (Turner and Harrington) and their leadership. But I will say these two guys can’t lead if the others aren’t willing to follow and they did. I’m super, super proud.” – Laatsch.
“With me and Big C (Turner) coming back to this team under coach Laatsch, who is an incredible coach and man, we knew we had to get the younger guys in the mix and up to the speed of the game. I thought the leadership was important in the success of this team. We were able to show what it was like to have a goal and reach it. We fell short here, but we reached many goals.” – Harrington.
Next up: Enterprise will play Baker or James Clemens at 5:45 p.m. Saturday in the week’s final game.
