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Deforest Taite a finalist for Class 3A Player of Year
"I have regrets with the way everything ended," Taite said. "But there are a lot of players who never get the experience of being in the finals. I know we could have played better in the finals." It wasn't as though Taite and his Bulldogs had not done enough. They were playing for the Class 3A state crown but the formidable Mustangs of Madison Academy stood in the way. Taite finished with 19 points, including four three pointers. He even pulled down five rebounds and had two steals. But in the end it just wasn't enough, keeping a 19-year drought for title alive at the school. On a team that had three players averaging in double figures in scoring, Taite led the group with 526 total points or 16.4 points per game. He also had three rebounds, two assists and two steals per game. Those numbers really don't translate into what the senior really meant to a program that for two years made it to the final four. "He was our main offensive threat," Coach Kendrick Davis said. "That opened the door for his teammates because teams tended to work on slowing him down." In the money time that is the playoffs Taite scored 105 points in six games, or 18 per outing. "He came up big for us when we made that run," Davis added. But for Taite the regular season was something different. "We thought with the talent we had coming back that we would be back in Birmingham," he said. "So the season, for us, was practice, getting ready for the playoffs." He looks at the group that he, along with six other seniors, leaves behind and sees bright things. "They have the talent to go right back and with the experience of being in the finals they can take the next step." Taite was chosen as one of the three finalists for the Class 3A Player of the Year award, voted on by the Alabama Sports Writers Association Prep Committee.
Madison Academy's Kerron Johnson was announced as the winner Wednesday. The other finalist was Nick Hedgepeth from Crossville.
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