BIRMINGHAM — Unfazed by the neon green shirts that filled the lower bowl of BJCC Arena for the Class 7A AHSAA basketball semifinal on Thursday, Alabama basketball coach Avery Johnson kept his eyes on the star of the show.
The five-star recruit didn’t disappoint.
Mountain Brook star Trendon Watford dropped in 22 points on 8 of 12 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds in his team’s dominant 70-42 victory over Central-Phoenix City. Johnson was seated beneath the five-star recruit’s basket for most of the game.
Watford is currently rated the No. 1 player in the state of Alabama by ESPN.com, and the No. 9 in the Class of 2019. Alabama is one of many schools making a strong recruiting push for the junior. The 247 Sports Composite also ranks him as the No. 1 player in the state and No. 9 in the country.
“I didn’t shoot my free throws well, but I thought that I played pretty good,” Watford said. “I did enough to get my team the win, so I would say I did pretty good.”
In the highlight of the afternoon, Watford trailed on a fast break to throw down a dunk that drew a big roar from the vibrant-colored crowd. Although it was the most memorable play of the game, he didn’t find it very impressive.
“It wasn’t the best one,” Watford said. “I’ve had better.”
Here is the Trendon Watford dunk from earlier. Nobody wanted a piece of that. pic.twitter.com/zN32KoqJVH
— Drew Hill (@DrewHillSports) March 1, 2018
The junior helped the Spartans separate from Central-Phoenix City in the second half, putting together a dominant third quarter on both ends of the floor. In 13 second-half minutes, Watford scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Mountain Brook gave up just two points to the Red Devils in the fourth quarter.
“Coming out of the locker room I wanted to amp it up a little bit because nobody was really in foul trouble,” Watford said. “That was our key point, so I feel like we really just sparked it up.”
At 6-foot-8, the five-star recruit is strong with the ball and excellent at finding space around the rim to score. Coupled with his athleticism, Watford’s length made rebounding look effortless on Thursday against the Red Devils.
Another Watford play from earlier. Briefly loses the ball, but recovers for the and-one. pic.twitter.com/isaz7e8FrL
— Drew Hill (@DrewHillSports) March 1, 2018
What about Watford impressed Central-Phoenix City coach Bobby Wright the most?
“Can I be honest with you? Everything,” Wright said. “He’s 6-foot-8, and the kid can handle the basketball, he can shoot the ball fairly well, he can play with his back to the basket and he can play with his face to the basket. So, he’s one of the top basketball players in the state, and he deserves to be that.”
