Vigor coach Lee Riley didn’t have to say anything to his team in the second half of a tight Class 5A championship game against Sylacauga.

“They huddled themselves,” he said of his team. “On my way back to the huddle, I was hearing a lot of good things. They pretty much took care of business.”

That business was winning the school’s first boys basketball state title.

Vigor broke open a close game with a 13-3 run to start the fourth quarter and pulled away for a 59-49 victory Saturday at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena. The win avenged a close loss to Fairfield in last year’s title game.

“We just grabbed everyone and said, ‘We are the better team. Let’s finish this,’” said MVP Aslan Jones.

The Wolves (20-9) led 23-19 at the half. Sylacauga (30-4) opened the third with a 7-0 run to claim the advantage briefly before Vigor took the lead for good with a 17-7 spurt. Still, the Wolves’ lead was just 40-36 entering the fourth, and Erick O’Neal’s 3-pointer cut the advantage to 40-39 in the opening minute.

That’s win Vigor turned up the defense.

“We want to fly around in the press,” Vigor first-year coach Lee Riley said. “I felt like we were doing that a good bit in the first half, but we became a little stagnant in the third quarter. I finally told the guys, ‘Don’t worry about fouls. You can’t take them home. Go play.’ When I turned them loose, the game changed.”

The Wolves’ defense prompted the big fourth-quarter run. Sylacauga went nearly six minutes without scoring. Vigor pushed its lead to 51-39 before the Aggies finally scored again.

It was way too late.

“They didn’t do anything different all game,” Sylacauga coach Joel Jones said of Vigor’s defense. “We just didn’t handle the 1-2-2 press. We didn’t handle it well all night.”

Vigor forced 19 Sylacauga turnovers, leading to an 18-5 advantage in points off turnovers. The Wolves also had a 28-16 advantage in points in the paint and an 18-6 edge in bench points.

“These guys have a lot of energy,” Riley said. “I’m a defensive minded coach. I like points, but defense is my thing. I told them this year, ‘I know you can score, but can you play defense and play it the right way.’ They started to buy in and took it and ran with it. I’ve never questioned their effort.”

The Wolves put the game away at the free throw line. They hit 15 free throws in the fourth quarter and finished 23-of-34 from the foul line overall. Devan Whitsett was 7-of-8. Ke’Viasz Malone was 8-of-9.

Stealing the game: Three Vigor players had at least four steals. Jermaine Tate had 5, while Whitsett and Jones had 4 each.

Stat sheet: Vigor – Tate and Whitsett each scored 13. Whitsett also had 6 rebounds. Jones finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Malone had 10 points. Sylacauga – O’Neal led the way with 14. CJ Franklin followed with 11.

By the numbers: Vigor was 17-of-53 from the field and 2-of-14 from 3. Sylacauga was 16-of-44 from the field, 7-of-16 from 3 and 10-of-19 from the foul line. The Aggies outrebounded the Wolves 40-33 and had a 28-16 advantage in points in the paint.

Did you know? Vigor’s championship is the first for a Mobile basketball tam since Williamson won in 2020.

They said it:

“This year seemed like a whirlwind. It got really tough at times, but these guys were big for me. For a first-year coach, it was a blessing. These guys always had my back.” – Riley.

“We saw we had the lead in the fourth and just needed to run out the time to win the state championship. That’s what we did.” – Jones.

“We didn’t find the rhythm all game long. You have to find the rhythm. If we break the press and shoot layups, they have to make a change. We never forced them to change their strategy. Never.” – Jones on his team’s offensive struggles.

“Obviously, we are going to be back because I can’t feel this pain again.” – Sylacauga junior Joshua Speer.