By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
Northview (Fla.), Niceville (Fla.) and Excel were the early winners in Tuesday's opening round of the Bank of Brewton T.R. Miller Christas Classic.
Northview escaped a tight battle with St. Paul's 40-39, while Niceville downed Monroe County 59-47 and Excel topped Jay (Fla.) 55-40.
The host T.R. Miller Tigers battled Georgiana in Tuesday's final first-round game. That contest, other first-round games that were played after Tuesday's press deadline and an overall tournament recap will be in Sunday's issue.
Northview 40, St. Paul's 39
Northview (Fla.) only led for a couple of seconds in the entire game, but they were the right two seconds.
DeAngelo Kirkland's free throw with two seconds left snapped a 39-39 deadlock to give the Chiefs (6-4) the victory.
St. Paul's (4-10) led 12-7 after one quarter, 23-21 at halftime and 35-28 through three periods before Northview rallied.
Cedric McKinley led the Chiefs with 10 points, while Richard Foster led St. Paul's and all scorers with 12.
Northview vs. St. Paul's
Northview 7 14 7 12 – 40
St. Paul's 12 11 12 4 – 39
NORTHVIEW (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McKinley 4-0-2-10; Myles 4-0-1-9; Whatley 2-1-1-8; Simpson 3-0-0-6; Kirkland 0-2-0-6 (Totals: 13-3-5-40)
ST. PAUL'S (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Foster 3-2-0-12; Terrell 3-1-0-9; Johnson 3-0-2-8; McCarron 1-2-0-8; Matthews 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 10-5-4-39)
Niceville 59, Monroe County 47
Niceville led from start to finish although it was a 33-24 surge in the second half that enabled the Eagles to pull away.
Tory Kirkwood led Niceville (6-8) with 12 points, while Monroe County's Terrell Armstrong led all scorers with 23.
Niceville vs. Monroe County
Monroe County 10 13 7 17 – 47
Niceville 17 9 14 19 – 59
MONROE COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) T. Armstrong 6-2-5-23; Stuniton 2-0-3-7; Stallworth 2-0-0-4; Edwards 0-1-0-3; Lee 1-0-1-3; Nettles 1-0-0-2; Hybart 0-0-2-2; Jones 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 13-3-12-47)
NICEVILLE (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) T. Kirkwood 6-0-0-12; C. Kirkwood 4-1-0-11; Malone 2-0-6-10; Wells 3-0-1-7; Woods 0-1-2-5; Hays 2-0-0-4; Cooper 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 20-2-13-59)
Excel 55, Jay 40
A disastrous second quarter by the Jay (Fla.) Royals sent them to a 55-40 defeat at the hands of the Excel Panthers.
Jay had a 15-9 lead after the first quarter, but Excel outscored the Royals 18-2 in the second quarter to take a 27-17 halftime lead and never looked back.
Adrian Stallworth led the Panthers with 18 points, while Terrell Coker added 12. Jay got a team best 10 points from Greg Nelson.
Excel vs. Jay
Excel 9 18 12 16 – 55
Jay 15 2 14 9 – 40
EXCEL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Stallworth 3-4-0-18; Coker 5-0-2-12; Crosby 3-0-2-8; Brown 3-0-1-7; Anderson 3-0-1-7; Ridgeway 1-0-0-2; Kirkland 0-0-1-1(Totals: 18-4-7-55)
JAY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Nelson 1-2-2-10; Swick 0-3-0-9; Hendricks 4-0-0-8; Sasser 2-0-0-4; Wade 2-0-0-4; Lowery 1-0-2-4; Randolph 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 10-5-5-40)