Mountain Brook Spartans named to the 13th Annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard

MaxPreps is pleased to announce that the Mountain Brook (Birmingham, Ala.) Spartans have officially been named to the 13th Annual MaxPreps Basketball Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard, which is in its 12th year honoring boys basketball.

This is one of the most prestigious team awards in all of high school sports and it is an exclusive honor reserved for 100 of the top teams nationwide. In order to be eligible, a team must win a state championship and be highly ranked in the MaxPreps National Rankings. For basketball, only 20 of the country's best are invited and with nearly 40,000 competing varsity teams, this puts the Spartans ahead of 99.9 percent of their opponents!

In order to be eligible, the team not only had to be nationally ranked, but also had to win a state championship. Beating McGill-Toolen 73-49 on Saturday, Mar. 3 in the AHSAA Class 7A state championship contest marked the completion of an incredible 34-4 season — and earned Mountain Brook an invitation to the Tour of Champions.

Mountain Brook scored the first seven points of the title game before bolting to a 17-2 first period advantage on Trendon Watford's 3-pointer with 3:13 left in the opening quarter, allowing the Spartans to go on and win their second straight Class 7A state basketball championship. Mountain Brook, who now owns four boys state basketball titles, has played in five of the last six state championship contests. After leading 19-6 at the end of the opening period, the Spartans jumped out to a 37-18 advantage at intermission and led 58-31 going into the final eight minutes of play.

McGill-Toolen could get no closer than 19 points in the second half as Mountain Brook built its advantage to a game-high 29 points three times, the latter coming on Sean Elmore's 3-pointer that put the Spartans up 70-41 with 2:24 left in the game. Mountain Brook ripped the cords from beyond the arc, connecting on 11 of 29 3-pointers, and was true from the charity stripe after sinking 12 of 16 free throws for the title game.

Watford led the Spartans with 26 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, five blocked shots and a steal and earned state tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Elmore added 20 points, eight boards and an assist, for the champions, while Britton Johnson, William Lineberry and Lior Berman scored six points a piece. Paulie Stramaglia added four points, dished out five assists and swiped an enemy ball in the title game.

Mountain Brook opened postseason play with a 54-37 win over Grissom in the regional semifinals before kicking in the door to the Final Four with a 77-71 triumph over Huffman. The Spartans then bumped Central from state championship contention with a 70-42 semifinal win to set up the championship bout with McGill-Toolen.

Bucky McMillan's club opened the season with a 102-59 win over Sacred Heart Catholic. Then, following a 90-49 triumph over Selma, the Spartans took it to Prattville 81-31 to open the season with a 3-0 record. Mountain Brook won three more contests before suffering its first loss of the year. The Spartans then won 28 of their final 31 contests and outscored their competition 73.1-51.6 per outing for the year. The Spartans held 18 foes under 50 points, while reaching 80 points or more 13 times themselves. Mountain Brook scored a season-high 102 points in the season-opening victory over Sacred Heart Catholic.

Having won 18 straight contests to end the season, the Spartans set themselves up for some rather high rankings come season's end. Not only is Mountain Brook ranked No. 1 in MaxPreps' Alabama Class 7A Rankings, the Spartans are the top squad in all of Alabama. Mountain Brook is ranked No. 31 in MaxPreps' National Rankings and played its way into the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 Writers' Poll at No. 24!

These incredible season achievements have earned the Mountain Brook Spartans an invitation to the 13th Annual Tour of Champions. Please join us in the gymnasium for a school assembly as we celebrate with the boys basketball team, coaching staff, students and fans on Tuesday, May 15 at 2:30 p.m.

For more information about the Tour of Champions, please visit the MaxPreps Tour of Champions site.