By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
If their season is a barrel, the W.S. Neal Blue Eagles hope they have reached the bottom.
It at least probably felt that way after a disastrous second half sent the Blue Eagles to a 69-20 home court loss to the Straughn Tigers in a Class 3A Area 1 battle Friday.
The Blue Eagles were down only 24-15 at halftime, but Straughn outscored them 27-1 in the third quarter and 45-5 in the second half. W.S. Neal made just one field goal the second half and hit only six of 19 free throws for the game.
Antonio Green led W.S. Neal (2-15 overall and 0-4 in Area 1) with six points.
The Blue Eagles junior varsity put the brakes on a four-game losing streak with a 36-31 overtime win over Straughn.
Johnathan Alexander led the winners with 14 points.
W.S. Neal travels to Georgiana Tuesday.
At W.S. Neal
Straughn 16 8 27 18 – 69
W.S. Neal 6 9 1 4 – 20
STRAUGHN (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Driver 5-0-4-14; Huggins 1-2-5-13; Armstrong 5-0-0-10; Hunter 2-1-1-8; Sexton 1-1-1-6; Carter 2-0-2-6; Hammett 2-0-2-6; Johnson 1-0-2-4; Jones 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 20-4-17-69)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Green 3-0-0-6; Cooper 1-0-3-5; Hester 1-0-1-3; Roh. Travis 1-0-0-2; Thomas 1-0-0-2; Ron. Travis 0-0-1-1; Madison 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 7-0-6-20)
Junior varsity
Straughn 7 5 6 11 2 – 31
W.S. Neal 12 8 2 7 7 – 36
STRAUGHN (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Parker 1-3-0-11; Driver 5-0-1-11; Dorlen 1-0-0-2; Pettes 1-0-0-2; Marshall 1-0-0-2; Kinsaw 1-0-0-2; Freeney 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 9-3-4-31)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Alexander 4-2-0-14; Wilson 3-1-0-9; Barnes 1-1-0-5; Rutledge 1-0-1-3; Boyd 1-0-0-2; Lambert 0-0-2-2; J. Bradley 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 10-4-4-36)
Thursday's game
When W.S. Neal and Andalusia hooked up at the T.R. Miller Tournament a couple of weeks ago, the Blue Eagles were competitive with the Bulldogs most of the way before they succumbed 47-31.
In Thursday's rematch at East Brewton, W.S. Neal was anything but competitive in a 63-21 setback.
The Blue Eagles hit just two of their first 23 shots and turned the ball over 32 times, as they dropped their seventh game in succession.
Andalusia (8-9) buried the Blue Eagles right off the bat in the first quarter when they stormed out to a 23-5 lead thanks largely to three hoops and two free throws by D'Andre Wright and 10 W.S. Neal turnovers.
Spencer Williamson's field goal in the first quarter for W.S. Neal was the only bucket for the Blue Eagles until Drew Hester connected with a minute left in the second quarter. By that time Andalusia's lead had grown to 40-9.
Another eight minutes went by before W.S. Neal made another field goal and the Blue Eagles had just a free throw by Hester during that span. Meanwhile on the other end Josh Johnson's bucket capped off a 12-0 run that extended the visitors' lead to 50-10.
In the junior varsity game, Andalusia used a couple of late field goals to snatch a 57-53 win. Johnathan Alexander paced W.S. Neal with 24 points.
At W.S. Neal
Andalusia 23 17 12 11 – 63
W.S. Neal 5 5 4 7 – 21
ANDALUSIA (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Cotton 6-0-2-14; Johnson 6-0-2-14; James 3-0-5-11; Wright 3-0-2-8; Alycizson 2-0-2-6; Huff 2-0-0-4; Lynn 1-0-0-2; Taylor 1-0-0-2; McTyeize 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 24-0-15-63)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Hester 1-1-1-6; Madison 1-0-2-4; McMillian 1-0-1-3; Ron. Travis 1-0-0-2; Roh. Travis 1-0-0-2; Williamson 1-0-0-2; Cooper 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 6-1-6-21)
Junior varsity
Andalusia 8 20 13 16 – 57
W.S. Neal 12 16 13 12 – 53
ANDALUSIA (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Sims 9-0-3-21; McTyere 6-0-3-15; Ferrell 4-0-3-11; B. Jones 2-0-2-6; Watson 0-0-2-2; Centner 0-0-1-1; T. Jones 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 21-0-15-57)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Alexander 8-2-2-24; Wilson 1-2-1-9; Lambert 3-0-3-9; Barnes 3-0-1-7; S. Sanders 2-0-0-4 (Totals: 17-4-7-53)