Eufaula vs. Robertsdale

OZARK — Robertsdale came out smooth offensively against heavily-favored Eufaula Tuesday at the Dothan Progress/Dothan Eagle/Southern Star Holiday Prep Classic sponsored by The Cochran Firm.

Eufaula’s defense, though, turned up the heat in the second quarter and made things tough for the Bears the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, the Tiger offense, after struggling early, warmed enough to help Eufaula pull away to a 65-46 victory over the Bears at the Ozark Civic Center.

Eufaula, ranked fourth in Class 5A, remained undefeated at 16-0 with the win and advanced to the Holiday Prep Classic championship game for the second straight year.

The Tigers will face Barbour County at 6:30 p.m. tonight. Barbour County beat Enterprise 67-61 in Tuesday’s other game.

It will be the third meeting of the year between the two county rivals. Eufaula has won both previous games.

Robertsdale, which fell to 10-8, will play in tonight’s consolation game at 5 p.m. against Enterprise in a matchup of Class 6A programs.

“Robertsdale is a well-coached team and they hit a lot of high-percentage shots in the first quarter and it gave them the lead early, which was key for them,” Eufaula head coach Mike Henry said.

“We started off sluggishly. We had great looks underneath the basket and it just happened to rim out. We finally got it going in the second half.”

The biggest key was Eufaula’s defense in the second quarter.

After watching Robertsdale hit 8-of-11 shots in the first quarter in building a 16-10 lead, the Tigers got aggressive on defense.

“We had to contest every shot,” Henry said. “If they got decent looks, they were going to make those shots, so we wanted to contest those high-percentage shots.”

The plan worked as the Bears made only 3-of-9 shots and committed 11 turnovers in the second quarter.

Robertsdale, in fact, would make only 10 field goals in the last three quarters after making the eight in the first quarter.

Quenton Evans, Kent Langham and Brandon Ellis led Robertsdale’s first-quarter charge. Evans had six points and Langham and Ellis four each.

Eufaula scored seven straight to open the second quarter to go up 17-16. Herbert Brooks had an offensive putback and free throw, Calvin Thomas a fastbreak layup and Josh Jones a layup after receiving a good pass.

Robertsdale, though, stayed closed and trailed just 25-24 with 2:22 left after two free throws from Evans.

But Eufaula controlled the rest of the quarter. Thomas stole a pass and earned a fastbreak layup then feed Brooks for a 3-pointer in the half’s final seconds to make it 30-24.

Brooks powered the Tigers’ second-quarter onslaught, scoring 14 of Eufaula’s 20 points.

The Tigers began to pull away in the third quarter, building the margin to 44-32 entering the final quarter.

Robertsdale had one last gasp three minutes into the final quarter, cutting the margin to nine at 48-39 with 5:04 left when Evans made 1-of-2 free throws.

The ball went out of bounds to Robertsdale after Evans missed the second free throw.

A three-point attempt by Langham, which would have cut it to six, bounced off the rim.

The teams exchanged steals before Jones earned a fastbreak slam for Eufaula, boosting the margin back to double digits, where it stayed the rest of the way.

Brooks had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead Eufaula, which had 10 players score and earn a rebound. Thomas earned 16 points and five rebounds.

Evans paced Robertsdale with 18 points and five rebounds and Ellis added 12 points and seven rebounds. Langham led the Bears in rebounds with nine.

“In the second quarter, we let it slip away,” Robertsdale head coach Marshall Davis Jr. said. “We had a kid (Ellis) with a back injury and we had to take him out and he wasn’t 100 percent the rest of the way.

“My hat’s off (to Eufaula). They played well. They rebounded well and went to the basket well. They killed us on the backside and on rebounding.”

For the game, Eufaula outrebounded Robertsdale 34-23 and allowed only three Bear offensive rebounds.

While the Bears lost, Davis felt his players gave a good account of themselves.

“They kids played hard and never gave up,” Davis said. “They played to the end. We have been playing teams like this the whole year and hopefully it will pay off at the end of the season.”