Plenty of situations happening before county tourney starts:
Three teams have momentum, four others are in search of it:
GDW Analysis:
As the 2026 Cullman County basketball tournament is ready to enjoy a weeklong of drama from Wallace State's Tom Drake Coliseum, the excitement has hit a high grade.
Three teams step into the festivity with momentum from the week that just concluded.
Four are seeking answers on what to do in order to correct setbacks and regain momentum with a championship trophy awaiting the overall winner.
Cold Springs:
The No. 1 seed for the tournament went down to defeat Friday night at Falkville 52 to 45. That ended a 17 game winning streak for the No. 1 ranked squad in Class 2A.
According to a report, center Breydon Hallman was injured early in the 2nd half and missed the remainder of the game.
The Eagles saw a 33 to 16 halftime lead go awry in getting outscored in the final 16:00 by the Blue Devils 36 to 12. The victory for Falkville has created a tie for 1st in 2A, Area 11 with both at 3 & 1.
Cold Springs coach Drew Adams added a game to the Eagles' schedule. Cold Springs will host the Hamilton Aggies Monday at 1:30 in order for his team to regain timing and adjusting their situation pending on the status of Hallman.
Cold Springs has been anchored by Hallman's work in the post as well as Lindan Hill from his forward position. The perimeter has been anchored by PG Ayden Black, SG Cash Dickerson, SG Ethan Day.
The Eagles have been able this season to defeat the rest of the county squads to grab the No. 1 seed entering the tournament.
West Point:
Positioned as the No. 2 seed, West Point got back momentum Friday in romping over Russellville 54 to 29 on homecoming. That has the Warriors 16 & 7 for the season.
The strength of Mason Voce's team has been the "Twin Towers" of Jaxson Shelton and Maddox Chapman. Both are big time scorers and showed it by combining for 29 points against Russellville.
West Point will look to attack the defense on drives to the hoop by Nolan Franklin, the perimeter scoring from Graff Byram and the leadership of PG Kade Vincent. Good play by reserves Asa Sutter, Teagan Heaton, JJ Minck and Ayden Ennis have been very much noticed by this team in recent time.
Fairview:
No. 3 seed for the tournament, the Aggies completed the week before the main event with a 45 to 26 win at Russellville then were outscored Friday at Scottsboro 61 to 44.
The win snapped a 10 game losing streak for the Aggies.
Connor Dunkin tossed in 21 in the road win against Russellville.
Coach Ganus' Aggies will look to Dunkin as well as Zayden Cruce, Calin Collins, Kolt Redding, Colt Dean and Eli StDenney in the quest to make a strong run with the Aggies getting Vinemont in the quarterfinal round.
Holly Pond:
When the pairings were set, the Broncos had made a move of splitting the 6 game regular season county schedule.
Unfortunately for the week before the tournament, the Broncos have fallen short in county matchups, losing to Vinemont 51 to 48 in OT and to Hanceville 46 to 39.
Coach Tim Willoughby sets up a game plan of executing without making it a whirlwind pace.
Strong play inside by Cade Allbright will be huge for the Broncos along with Asher Thrift and Ty Dunn. Both combined for 21 points in a hard fought game January 16 with Hanceville.
Good Hope:
A squad that used a tremendous 4th period comeback last Monday to stun Vinemont 64 to 63 in OT enabled the Raiders to slide up to No. 5 in the seedings.
Center Tucker Screws worked his way in the post of scoring 29 points. Nobody from Vinemont could slow him down as he will look to go to war with Holly Pond and their man in the middle, Cade Allbright.
First year coach Mitch Morris is having to adjust his scoring from outside with SG Kye McSwain unable to play due to recent wrist surgery.
The Raiders have personnel in guard play like Ayden Young, Owen Armstrong, Memphis Johnson, Tyler Byrd that can deliver long range shots. Consistency is the key for the Raiders to use the perimeter in mixing it up of working the ball into Screws.
Vinemont:
Going from a potential 3 seed to No. 6, the Eagles fought off the adversity of the OT loss to Good Hope last Monday and earned an OT victory at home the following night with Holly Pond.
New coach James Brown has seen plenty of potential from this squad that is very mature since many played on the varsity a year ago as sophomores.
The Eagles have plenty of people that can handle offensive strategy like forward Bryson Bush, shooting guards Gavin Parr, Sam Marsh, Tucker Mauter, forwards Cheston Wilhite and Will Conquest.
Vinemont has experienced overcoming deficits such as the Eagles did against Hanceville January 9 and to take a huge one in 3A, Area 11 against Holly Pond earlier this past week.
Hanceville:
Even though they are seeded last for the tournament, that does not count out Hanceville.
The Bulldogs have shown they can tangle with the rest of the county as they swept the season series from Holly Pond, thanks to the 46 to 39 victory January 16.
Hanceville battled Good Hope recently into an overtime contest and went toe to toe with Cold Springs and Fairview.
For the Bulldogs, the play from the outside with SG Sam Abney, SG Drake Bentley, PG Hunter Black factor in tremendously.
Shawn Pilman and Avery Carnathan work hard up front.
Winning at Holly Pond does boost the spirit for coach Stephen Chandler and his crew with everything to gain and nothing to lose now the county tournament is in front of them.
The matchups:
No. 4 Holly Pond vs. No. 5 Good Hope Monday 6:30
No. 3 Fairview vs. No. 6 Vinemont Tuesday 5:15
No. 2 West Point vs. No. 7 Hanceville Tuesday 8:30
No. 1 Cold Springs vs. 4/5 winner Friday 7:00
Championship game Saturday 6:30 p.m.
Photo of Holly Pond G Fox Westall working his way through the Cold Springs' defense in a game December 22 at Cold Springs. No. 0 for Cold Springs is Ayden Black.
Photo courtesy of Cody Kanaday Media.
