Los Angeles Lakers coach J.J. Reddick made news in 2022 when he discounted the achievements of legendary Boston Celtics point guard Bob Cousy by claiming he was “being guarded by plumbers and firemen.”

Florence High School senior Jalen Chandler can relate.

The 6-foot-7 forward had already won a state championship and been to the Final Four twice before this season. But some dismissed that because he was playing for Class 1A Covenant Christian.

“Some people didn’t think I could have success in 7A because I was playing in 1A,” Chandler said. “They said I was playing against computer scammers and janitors.”

Any criticism of Chandler raking up big numbers simply because he played against inferior competition was put to rest Thursday at Legacy Arena. Chandler had a career game in leading the Falcons to a 74-62 win over Fairhope.

Chandler scored 41 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and added four steals, two assists and one blocked shot. His previous career high in points was 32 against Danville.

“I scored 41 points, so I proved I could do it at this level,” said Chandler, who was matched up for much of the game against Fairhope’s Jackson Gulley, a highly recruited 6-7 junior. “This was my fifth time playing here. Some people call it my home. It’s just like any other court, so I just had to go hoop.”

Chandler has seven scholarship offers but no Division I offers yet. His versatility should make him attractive to college coaches.

“When you have a guy like Jalen, he can face up, play with his back to the basket or catch and shoot,” said Florence coach Dylan Burleson. “He facilitated a lot of our offense tonight.”

Chandler had six dunks in the semifinal win. After the final one with 2:46 left in the game, the large Florence student section begin the chant, “You Can’t Guard Him (clap, clap, clap).”

Fairhope coach Ralph Watson eventually came to the same conclusion.

“If I had known he was going to score 41, I would have done a few things different,” Watson said. “He got his body on us and creased us. It’s tough to officiate a guy like him because there are a lot of moving parts downstairs that give him a big advantage. He pounds the glass. His physicality hurt us. We are not a big 7A team. We tried to go a little smaller on him and maybe bother him. Sometimes it bothers big guys for guys to get underneath them, but it clearly didn’t bother him.”

It probably wouldn’t even have helped to guard him with a computer scanner, janitor, plumber or fireman.