Lanett High School’s 6-foot-9 senior twins Cameron and Zameron Boozer combined for 32 points and 29 rebounds as the Panthers (21-11) held off stubborn Jacksonville Christian 70-61 in the Class 1A boys’ semifinals at the 98thAHSAA State Basketball Championships at the BJCC Legacy Arena Monday.
Cameron Boozer had 20 points with a 10-of-15 shooting performance inside. He also cleared 19 rebounds – 13 coming on the offensive boards. His twin Zameron added 12 points and 10 rebounds – four offensive boards – as the post players dominated the inside for Coach Richard Carter’s Panthers. Lanett won the rebound battle 51-36. Junior point guard Kintavious Dozier added a team-high 21 points, three steals and three assists.
Jacksonville Christian (24-7), making its first-ever state tournament appearance, battled throughout to stay close – thanks in part to the 3-point shooting of senior Kobe Messer. He sank five 3-pointers to finish with 17 points. The Thunder’s 6-7 senior center Chase Vinson battled inside valiantly with Lanett’s twin towers to combine for 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also had a game-high four blocked shots and three assists. Brady Shaddix also added nine points, six rebounds and three assists. He was 6-of-8 at the foul line for Coach Tommy Miller’s Thunder.
Lanett advances to the Class 1A boys’ championship game Thursday at 5:45 p.m. The Panthers will be chasing their fourth state title. Carter’s teams won three straight Class 2A state titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018. – winning previous championships in 1987, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2016 and 2018.
All semifinal and championship games in the 2020 State Tourney are being live-streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based platform and are also being shown over the AHSAA TV Network’s group of cable affiliates in Alabama. WOTM TV is producing all games and the AHSAA Radio Network is handling announcing duties for radio and TV during the semifinals.
All cable systems in Alabama have a chance to take the broadcast feed for all the games free of charge. If your local cable company is not televising the games, please contact them and ask them to join the AHSAA TV Network.
QUOTES:
Lanett
Coach Richard Carter
● Congrats to JCA for a fine job this year, fine record, great ball club
● They shoot the ball really really well, but we ran their legs a bit short.
● Boozers had a great day today, especially Cameron
● Didn’t play very well today, missed too many free throws. They know what practice will look like tomorrow.
● Rebounding is really big. Kids did a really really good job today, especially the big kids.
● We actually addressed that at halftime - we were rushing ourselves getting it back on the glass. Just needed to slow it down.
● It was difficult, to give you a scenario - we played the state final football game on Thursday and turned around on Monday and played a basketball game. Then turned around on Tuesday and played Central Phenix City.
● We can’t get people in our class to play us. We have to play 7a, 6a, drive an hour and a half away..
● We had a gauntlet of a schedule, but we had faith in these young men. We knew what we had.
Cameron Boozer
Cameron on what his team did well today
● “We just played good as a team and I did a good job executing when I got the ball.”
Cameron on getting the ball at the end of the game and running out the clock
● “We weren’t thinking about much, I just tried to get the ball.”
Kintavious Dozier
Kintavious on what it means to be in Birmingham
● “I did not think I would get here, but they got me here.”
Zameron Boozer
● I just wanted to relax and make sure we got it the next time.
Jacksonville Christian Academy
Coach Tommy Miller
● “We still had a chance to win the game late. We were outmanned but we showed a lot of heart.”
● I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of a team than I am today. We played so hard today and stayed in the ball game. We buckled our belt and stayed in the game.
● We were definitely out manned today
● Lanett’s head coach showed a lot of class today
● We talked about that some, yes, it is - Oxford didn’t have the double twin towers. It helped us, playing Oxford in the county tournament. We played better today because we played that game.
● We showed a lot of heart.
● It has been a great experience.
● It’s always hard to come back when you have to rely on the three-point shot
● Kobe is as good a shooter as there is around. He’s shot got a little short and that’s legs giving out.
● I did not know if we were in the Volleyball finals or Basketball finals as we were missing them.
Kobe Messer
On how the game played out down the stretch
● “We knew this team was really good, so we had to start hitting shots. We even changed to a zone defense, but we didn’t hit enough shots.”
● This team is a family, we have come so far.
Brady Shaddix
● We have been down before, if we keep playing hard.
● It's easier to play knowing you’ve got a great supporting cast. Had a lot of friends and family come down to see us play.
Chase Vinson
On guarding two 6’8 players
“It was difficult. I had to box one out with the other one coming up.”
● It’s hard with two or three of those big guys coming down. You just gotta play your heart out.
On what it means to be in Birmingham
● “People look up to us from our school like little kids and we wanted to play for them.”