2017-18 ALL-CAPITAL CITY CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TEAMS

Story and photos courtesy of The Montgomery Independent ©
Published by TIM GAYLE

After winning just five games a year ago, no one outside of Saint James had high expectations for the Trojans in 2017-18. Even though most of the players returned, the team wasn’t noted for its offensive firepower. But when Nigel Card saw his players in offseason workouts, he knew he had a team that would surprise a lot of doubters.

“I saw their potential during the summer,” Card said. “What I really noticed and liked about my team was that they really bought into playing for each other. Their roles were already pretty much defined. Each one of those kids understood what they brought to the table.”

Damien Madison helped the Trojans get off to a quick start, scoring more than 30 points in three of his first five games. He finished the year with 617 points, averaging 22 points per game in propelling the Trojans to a 20-9 record, only the third time in school history a Saint James boys basketball team has reached the 20-win plateau.

The Capital City Conference coaches, in a poll conducted by The Montgomery Independent, chose Madison as the Capital City Conference Player of the Year. He was joined on the team by last year’s player of the year, Catholic point guard B.J. Barker, as well as Charlie Lott and Luke Hufham of Trinity and Trey Lindsey of Montgomery Academy.

“He’s been playing very competitive basketball for me since the ninth grade and he matured and got stronger every year,” Card said. “It just made the game a little bit easier for him to be able to utilize his skills and strength to drive the basketball and create scores off of fast break situations. I think that was one of his strengths, he was always in attack mode.”

Madison spent much of the year with teams concentrating on his scoring, yet he scored at least 19 points in all but five games. He was held to nine points vs. Shelby County and only managed 11 in a meeting with Trinity before an ankle injury forced him to the bench for the remainder of the game and the next two games. He had 15 points in his return a week later and managed just 16 in a season-ending loss in the regionals.

Most of the time, though, Madison was scoring either 3-pointers or driving the lane and drawing fouls when his outside shot wasn’t connecting.

“Early in his career, he had settled in as a 3-point shooter and I think a lot of that was because of his (lack of) size and strength,” Card said. “He didn’t have the strength to go in there against the bigger, stronger kids. But he worked extremely hard on his body and got so much stronger. And by him getting stronger, it opened up his game so much more.”

As a result, Saint James reached the regionals for only the fourth time in school history, reaching 20 wins with a win over Escambia County in the sub-regional round. Only the 1983-84 and 2014-15 teams accomplished that feat.