Hurricanes Fall in Opener

The Monticello Hurricane boys’ basketball team tipped off their season at home last Friday night, exactly one week after the Lady Canes opened theirs on the road.

Both teams were in action on Friday and Saturday, hosting Alcovy for the home opener, and traveling to Eastside.

In last week’s edition of The Monticello News the girls’ basketball program was previewed. This week we’ll be going in depth looking at the boys’ program, and their outlook for the 2024-2025 season.

Coming off the first Region Championship won by the Hurricanes in 33 years (1991), one would think the Hurricanes should be ready to take on the state. However, with the changing of the region alignments the Hurricanes face new opponents and new challenges to competing for another Region Championship.

Region 4-A D1 has defending Class A D-2 State Champion Greenforest to contend with, along with the #2 ranked Putnam County War Eagles and DeKalb County’s Towers High School currently ranked #6 in the state.

The Hurricanes came into this season ranked #4 in the pre-season poll, but losing Kemarion Thomas, Randy Williams, Eli Terrell and Chase Hadaway to graduation left some major holes for the Hurricanes both offensively and defensively.

Coach Chris Pennamon, noted “that it will be hard to replace Randy Williams individually so it will be a team effort to do the things that Randy brought to the team. Replacing a 4-year starter in Kemarion Thomas will be difficult, but we are looking to his younger brother Jamarkus Thomas to take the next step this season coming off a standout football season at quarterback. Dereon Pennamon returns as a first team all-region selection and will play a major role in this year’s team along with last season’s leading scorer Malik Epps in his senior year.”

“The Hurricanes are also looking for big things from senior Jay Vinson and juniors Tayshawn Reeves (last year’s 300 hurdle state champion), Kenyan Davis and sophomore Chance Ross. If these young men along with a few newcomers to the varsity squad like Denoyren Head can have the seasons that we think they can have, we can compete in this stacked basketball region that includes three private schools with players that stand well above 6’5.”

According to Coach Pennamon, “We will have to play faster this year than we did last year and that will take time to develop, especially with many of our boys coming off a long hard football season. We will be looking to hit our stride after Christmas break, right in time for the start of region play.”

“With our region being the second hardest in Class A D-1 and the hardest of all the public schools in Class D-1, we had to make a schedule that prepared us to play this season. Therefore, we have some heavy hitters on this year’s schedule to ready us for Greenforest, Putnam County, W.D. Mohammad, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy and Social Circle. We are confident that once we can get some practices in and some chemistry we will be able to compete in this region. The goal is to make the state playoffs once again and to go at least one round further than we did last year.”

Last Friday, the Alcovy Tigers paid a visit in the lid lifter for the boys’ team. It was a back and forth game, with Alcovy taking small leads but never quite pulling away, as the scrappy Hurricanes kept themselves in it with clutch shooting by Malik Epps from three-point range, Jamarkus Thomas from the line, and Tayshawn Reeves defensively to keep the Canes in striking distance.

Unfortunately, the Tigers had an equalizer of their own in guard Nick Durham, who finished the night with a quiet 27 points, 19 of those in the second half to help keep the Hurricanes at bay, falling by a final score of 56-52 to the Tigers.

Thomas finished the game as the high point man for the Hurricanes, with 13, followed by Epps with 11, and Reeves with 9.

The girls played an equally exciting game, coming out blazing before foul trouble and a series of turnovers allowed the Lady Tigers to creep back into the game and take a 24-22 lead into the half. The Lady Canes fought hard, keeping the game close until the end, and falling by a final score of 55-45 after Alcovy snuck a basket in before time expired to stretch the margin to 10.

For the Lady Hurricanes, Jazmin Maddox led the way in the scoring department, dropping in 16 points, followed by Kamryn Davis with 9, and Selena Harvey and Kinya Thomas with seven each. Maddox finished with 8 rebounds and three steals, along with Harvey and Davis, who contributed six rebounds each.

On Saturday, the Hurricanes made the quick trip up to Eastside High School in Newton County. Both teams fought hard against higher classification opponents, but came up short, the boys falling by a final of 66-43, and the girls by a score of 64-39.

The Hurricane boys were led by Thomas, who dropped in a game leading 19 points, followed by Reeves with 9, and Dereon Pennamon with 7.

The girls were led in scoring by Maddox with 14, followed by Davis with 9. Maddox and Harvey also led in rebounds with 8, and blocked shots with three and two respectively.

The Hurricane boys traveled to Rockdale County to take on the Bulldogs Tuesday, and will return home on Friday to take on Mary Persons, followed by a Saturday trip across the county line to tackle the Red Devils from Jackson.

Friday’s games begin at 4:30 p.,m. with a JV boys’ matchup, followed by the girl’s game at 6 p.m., and the varsity boys closing the evening with a 7:30 p.m. tip.

Come out and cheer on your Hurricanes on the hardcourt this season!