By By Adam Robinson- Sports Editor
The W.S. Neal Eagle basketball team continued their win streak and improved to 7-3 as they ended an eight-year basketball losing streak to rival T.R. Miller Friday night at home with a 61-43 win.
The loss dropped T.R. Miller to 0-3.
The last basketball win for W.S. Neal over T.R. Miller came with a 61-47 win back on Dec. 8, 2000-almost eight years to the date.
While Hathcock was proud of his team's win over T.R. Miller, Tiger head coach Marc Edge was the opposite.
The win for the Eagles was the team's fifth in a row and three more wins than the last two seasons combined and two more game wins than the past three seasons.
W.S. Neal outscored T.R. Miller 12-1 in the first quarter, but in the second quarter the Tigers rallied to outscore the Eagles 22-13. The score cut the lead to two, Neal led 25-23.
In the third quarter, W.S. Neal extended their lead to 10 as they outscored T.R. Miller 15-7 to hold a 40-30 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, W.S. Neal outscored the Tigers 21-13 to win by 18 points, 61-43.
In the first quarter, after taking an early 2-0 lead on a Chris Payne jumper at the 6:10 mark, a free throw from Corey Redfearn for T.R. Miller cut the lead to 2-1 with 5:58 left in the quarter.
That one free-throw point would be all T.R. Miller got as they went on a 10-0 run to end the first quarter with a 12-1 lead.
In the second quarter, the Tigers cut the lead to 12-4 with 6:59 left in the first half and then went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 20-18 with 1:17 left in the half. From then, the game flip-flopped back and forth, as W.S. Neal never surrendered their lead to end the half ahead, 25-23.
In the second half, T.R. Miller tied the game at 25-25 when Riley connected for the Tigers. On the next offensive series for T.R. Miller, Riley gave his team their first lead of the game as he connected for one of two free throws to put T.R. Miller on top 26-25 with 5:24 left in the quarter.
The Tigers continued on their run and took a 28-25 lead, but from there, W.S. Neal went on a 15-0 run to hold a 40-28 lead at the 40 second mark in the quarter and held a 40-30 lead at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, W.S. Neal went on an 8-0 run to go ahead 48-33 and then cruised to the win after a 6-0 run to end the game and win 61-43.
Bob Elliott led W.S. Neal with 15 points and Chris Payne followed closely with 14 points. Kendrick Floyd added 12 points in the win and Jeremy Nicholson had eight.
Riley led T.R. Miller with 20 points and Justin Payne added 10 in the loss.
In other games, the W.S. Neal Eagles picked up their fifth and sixth wins of the season with two road wins over Excel and Northview.
The wins improved W.S. Neal to 6-3, two more wins than the Eagles won all of last season and two more than the previous two seasons combined on the court and one more than the last three seasons.
W.S. Neal defeated Excel 61-43 and defeated Northview 69-51.
W.S. Neal will take part in the Escambia County Tournament that begins this Friday in Atmore. The tournament will continue on Saturday and Monday.
W.S. Neal 61, Excel 43
Four Eagles scored in double figures as W.S. Neal defeated the Excel Panthers by 18 points, 61-43.
Chris Payne led the Eagles with 15 points in the win and Bob Elliott and Kendrick Floyd added 12 for the Eagles. William Shell rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Tigers as he scored 11 points to help in the win.
W.S. Neal and Excel played to a 12-12 tie in the first quarter, but the Eagles outscored Excel 18-12 to take a 30-24 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, W.S. Neal held a 13-11 scoring advantage to take a 43-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, W.S. Neal outscored Excel by 10 points, 18-8, to win by 18 points with a final scored 61-43.
W.S. Neal 69, Northview 51
After being down by five points at the end of the first quarter against Northview, 17-12, the Eagles outscored the Chiefs 57-34 in the remaining quarters to get their fourth win in a row and defeat Northview 69-51.
Elliott scored 14 points in the win for W.S. Neal to lead the Eagles and Floyd added 12 points. Justin Sanders added 10 points in the win for the Eagles to round out the double-figure scorers.
After being down by five points at the end of the first quarter, W.S. Neal cut the Northview led to two as they outscored Northview 15-12 in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, W.S. Neal led Northview 17-11 and 25-11 in the fourth quarter to win by 18.