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There’s no shortage of experience for Cortez Graham when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of what makes Hillsboro basketball tick.
Graham has played valuable minutes for the Burros all four years of high school career and now a senior, his main goal is to get the program to a spot it hasn’t experienced since 1956.
The path towards that long-awaited gold ball took another step forward Friday night as Graham and the Burros held on to beat a rising Kirkwood side 62-55 in a battle between two of the MidState’s top 4A programs.
“Games leading up to our district, we kind of use them as practice,” Graham said after the win. “(Kirkwood) came in and they definitely competed at a high level. They’re a high level team so that will definitely help us down the run to face teams like them.”
A 6-foot-5 North Alabama signee, Graham scored 10 points in the win. He was one of four Burros (10-2) to finish the evening in double figures against the Cobras (8-3).
It may not have been his highest scoring output of the season but for Hillsboro coach Rodney Thweatt, a 10-point scoring night out of his star who also defended well and found open teammates in a crucial non-district matchup is all he could ask for.
“The biggest thing with Cortez is he’s figuring out his spots,” Thweatt said. “As a team, we’ve seen it all and we know we’ve got to rebound well. We rebound and run, we can get anything we want on the other end so that’s the focus
…Defending, rebounding, and running, and we’ll do what we want on the offensive end.”
Having the steady presence of Graham and other seniors like Tyren Fisher and Xavier Washington leading the way takes some pressure off of Thweat and the coaching staff.
Hillsboro has high goals and after last year’s five-point sectional loss to Brentwood, the Burros have one singular goal in mind.
That loss still rings in the mind of every player on the roster who experienced it. None more so than Graham.
“We had a few problems last year where we kind of disconnected from each other,” Graham said of last season’s team. “I feel like with this group, if we stay together, we can do anything.”
