Central boys face familiar challenge, again taking on Lee-Montgomery

The Central boys basketball team knows the situation, oh, so well.

Like the mythological Greek king Sisyphus, the Red Devils have rolled their proverbial boulder up the hill in the AHSAA state playoffs to the regional final in both 2014 and 2015, only to come up just short and have the stone roll backwards over a season full of might-have-beens.

"It always seems like it's been a stumbling block for us," coach Bobby Wright said on Monday.

Two years ago, Central lost 59-56 to Carver-Montgomery on a heart-stopping heave from half court. Last year, it fell just short of Lee-Montgomery in the same round, 75-69.

This year, Central (30-1), ranked No. 1 in the state, will play Lee again with a trip to the Class 7A semifinals on the line, and the Red Devils are using their past experiences to help get them over the top in 2016.

They have eight seniors on the team, the majority of whom have been on the roster each of the past two seasons when they came up short in the regional final.

"They've experienced it," Wright said. "They've experienced defeat. We don't take defeat easily. They're anxious to get up there and redeem themselves. This team wants to be the one to say we're going to Birmingham."

Central has made the semifinals just five other times in school history and

the championship game just twice. It has never won a state championship. But sporting the top ranking in the state's Alabama Sportswriters Association poll, that's the pinnacle the Red Devils are striving for this season.

Players on the team think it finally has the right group to do it. Senior point guard Tre Todd talked about the team's experience and maturity.

"I think we're a lot more motivated, a lot more confident," he said. "We have more maturity on our team. We don't have to rely on just one person. It's a team effort."

Todd runs the show at point guard, but he's also gotten significant help from guys like Tionne Williams, who sports a number of triple-doubles this season, Demarkus Lampley, and others.

Central has beaten Lee once this year, a 73-68 win in a regular-season tournament game, but knows how difficult it will be to win again. Wright complimented his opponent's size. There's a 6-foot-10 forward, Kedrick Simmons, a 6-foot-7 forward Demond Robinson, a couple of 6-foot-6 players and a handful between 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-5.

"They're lengthy," Wright said. "They're going to have some size on us."

But, he noted, Central has some experience and speed. A lot of both, in fact.

"You can trade speed for size, but not size for speed," he said. "We're going up there and hoping we can play fast, wear them down and stretch that big collegiate-sized floor."

"We have to make the extra pass, make smart passes and smart shots," Williams said.

That will be the key to playing the up-tempo style of ball that Wright likes to see. He wants his players fast, but under control. He said that if his team plays well on defense, rebounds well and plays smart offensively, it will put itself in a position to finally get up the mountain it has been climbing the past few years.

"Every year we try and go further and further," Williams said. "We're just trying to get over that hump this year."

This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Central boys face familiar challenge, again taking on Lee-Montgomery."