Florence, Ala. | Monday, May 20, 2013
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Hubbard boys fall to Parrish
By Justin Graves
The TimesDaily

HANCEVILLE — Swatting down shots and cleaning up glass, Barry Hill made his presence on the court known.

The 6-foot-8 Parrish High star dominated, creating a matchup in the lane that R.A. Hubbard couldn’t solve.

Hill finished with a supersized double-double, pouring in 20 points with 19 rebounds as third-ranked Parrish advanced past R.A. Hubbard 62-50 Wednesday night in the Class 1A Northwest Regional semifinals.

Parrish (28-1) advances to face Marion County on Saturday in the regional final.

“Statistically, Barry had a good night,” Parrish coach Heath Burns said. “But I see him all the time, and I know he can play better.”

Hill’s dominance was at center stage until a gruesome scene silenced most of the crowd inside Tom Drake Coliseum.

Late in the third quarter, R.A. Hubbard sophomore Tony Harris collapsed on the floor after suffering what school officials believe was a broken ankle. After a delay that lasted more than 10 minutes, Harris was taken by ambulance to Cullman Regional Medical Center.

“Tony got what probably was a broken ankle, and it’s kind of dislocated,” R.A. Hubbard coach Jack Steele said. “But it was probably one of those situations where it looked a whole lot worse than it really was, or at least that’s what we hope.”

“He was in real good spirits when they took him off. Yeah, he was in a lot of pain, but he was upbeat. Hopefully, he’ll get better and get to play football and basketball again. He’s a good kid.”

R.A. Hubbard guard Jimique Jones said players were not able to speak to Harris before he was taken out of the coliseum.

“We wanted to say something, but he was in too much pain to talk,” Jones said. “When it happened, I couldn’t hardly look. It was a scary moment, but if I could have said something to him, if any of us could have, I would have told him to hang in there and that we’re thinking about him.”

Burns said the scene on the court was difficult to watch.

“That was one of the worst injuries I’ve seen,” he said. “It almost made me sick at my stomach. You never want to see that, especially to a kid. Hopefully, he’ll be able to recover and come back. That was just a heartbreaking thing to see.”

Parrish started the game fast, racing out to a 22-10 lead in the first quarter.

R.A. Hubbard kept pace the rest of the way, cutting the lead to eight in the third quarter. The Chiefs trailed by 10 points when Harris’ injury occurred.

Markes Willingham, Jones, Deontae Carter and Austin Beasley scored 10 points each to lead R.A. Hubbard.

“It was a pretty good ballgame,” Steele said. “Our plan was to contain the big boy, and we had a hard time with that. He’s a really good player. They had 17 offensive rebounds in the first half, and that was the difference in the game.”

Contact Justin Graves at 256-340-2460 or by email at jgraves@decaturdaily.com.

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