By By Adam Robinson
Sports Editor
In a thrilling game Friday night in East Brewton, the W.S. Neal varsity Eagle basketball team pulled out a 53-42 win over rival T.R. Miller.
The win for the Eagles improved them to 8-3 with their fourth straight win, while T.R. Miller remained winless and fell to 0-3.
The game was close until about the last three minutes.
Both teams had four points in the first quarter, and after a 15-12 advantage in favor of the Tigers, T.R. Miller held a 19-16 lead at the half.
W.S. Neal outscored the Tigers 13-6 in the third quarter to take a 29-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter and outscored the Tigers 24-17 in the fourth quarter to get the seven-point win. W.S. Neal ended the third quarter on a 6-0 run and extended it to an 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter.
Both teams struggled at the free throw line in the game, as T.R. Miller was 3-for-7 in the first half and 5-for-15 in the second half for a total of 8-for-23.
W.S. Neal shot 4-for-15 in the first half, but settled down in the second half to shoot 16-for-26 for a total of 20-for-41. W.S. Neal was 8-for-11 in the final 1:30 of the game to help seal the win.
Phillips said his team did not play well in the first half.
T.R. Miller head coach Marc Edge said he was pleased with his team’s effort despite the loss against the Eagles.
Neither team led by more than five points in the first half with the biggest lead coming at the 58 second mark for the Tigers after a Derrick Riley dunk and the biggest lead for W.S. Neal coming after their 6-0 run to end the third quarter with a four-point lead.
W.S. Neal trailed 25-23 with 2:17 left in the quarter before taking their four-point lead at 29-25 to end the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, W.S. Neal held a seven-point lead with 2:47 left to play and T.R. Miller got as close as five points only to see the Eagles go ahead by eight points with 1:30 left to play and used a 6-0 run to end the game with an 11-point lead to get the win.
T.R. Miller was 5-for-12 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
For W.S. Neal, Ewing led with 15 points and Bob Elliott followed with 13.
Rashad Crook added seven points and Jeremy Nicholson had four. Jeremy Alexander had four points and T.J. Davis, Monterrius Culliver, Colby McCorvey, and Tra Dixon all had two points.
For T.R. Miller, Terez Lane had 17 points to lead the Tigers and Derrick Riley added 13 points.
Antonio Payne had six points and Joe McCorvey, Wes Dickey, and Keenan Pride had two points each in the loss.
T.R. Miller was set to play Monday against Hillcrest, but due to a scheduling conflict the game was cancelled.
W.S. Neal traveled to Red Level on Monday and lost 65-56.
Both teams will begin play in the Escambia County tournament on Friday in Flomaton.