Boys basketball: Defending 6A champ Mountain Brook takes down No. 1 Carver-Montgomery (video)

MONTGOMERY, Alabama — It may not have counted toward playoff positioning, but bragging rights were on the line in Montgomery Saturday night.

No. 2 Mountain Brook made its case to become the state’s top-ranked boys basketball team with a dominating 67-46 win over No. 1 Carver-Montgomery on AUM’s campus.

The defending Class 6A state champions never trailed the Wolverines, who struggled on the boards and against defensive pressure all night.

“That’s how we play,” said Mountain Brook head coach Bucky McMillan. “It doesn’t matter who we play or where we play, we’re going to be completely fearless and live with whatever happens. I didn’t think we played great today, but it was a pretty good game. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing the No. 1 team or the worst team in the state, it’s really about us and how we’re improving.

“Every game we’re playing ourselves. That’s all that matters.”

The Spartans improved their overall record to 24-3 with the win. Carver dropped to 17-4.

Ben Shearer scored a game-high 19 points for Mountain Brook while Patrick Keim and TaWarren Grant had 17 points each.

The Spartans took full advantage of Carver’s early mistakes and came out of the gate with a 10-0 lead, something McMillan said was a big difference in the game.

“Once we got that good start, their runs weren’t to take the lead, their runs were to cut into the lead,” McMillan said. “That has a lot to do with the emotion of the team. I thought that was pretty good, on the road taking their crowd out of it.”

Carver was more composed in the second quarter and gained confidence with a couple dunks from Joseph Strugg and Brandon Austin. But just as the Wolverines were beginning to cut into the lead, Keim reeled off seven straight points and the Spartans took a 39-26 halftime lead.

Carver cut the lead to 49-41 in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Wolverines could get. The Spartans kept their composure and put the game away in the fourth, outscoring the Wolverines 16-5.

Carver-Montgomery head coach James Jackson (left) with Mountain Brook head coach Bucky McMillan. (Wesley Sinor/wsinor@al.com)

“I thought Mountain Brook did a great job,” said Carver-Montgomery head coach James Jackson. “They came in and played extremely hard. I thought we sat back on our heels a little bit and waited for something to happen that never transpired. They did a great job of executing and we did a poor job of defending. We knew they were going to shoot the ball well, but the big things were turnovers and free throws. I thought they played much harder than we did.”

Mississippi State signee Demetrius Houston led Carver with 12 points. Caleb Provitt, Joseph Strugg and Brandon Murphy added seven points apiece.

Mountain Brook will face another big road test on Monday when the Spartans travel to Wenonah, the top-ranked team in Class 5A. Carver will return to action against Sidney Lanier on Monday.

Check out highlights from Saturday’s game in the video above.