Andalusia High School Head Basketball Coach Richard Robertson preaches fundamentals, because he knows they can make the difference between a win and a loss.

Monday night, the AHS 9th-grade basketball team tipped off the 2003 season with a loss. The Bulldogs saw a seven-point halftime lead disappear falling to Dauphin Street (Enterprise) by a final score of 35-33.

The Bulldogs fought back and knotted the score at 31-31 late in the game. The Dolphins, however, were not in the bonus, and the Bulldogs could not send them to the free-throw line allowing the Dolphins to run out the clock.

De'Andre Wright paced the Bulldogs on offense with 16 points. Garrett Berry added 8. Jeremy Ferrell had 4 points. Marquaus Byrd had 3 points and Justin Sims scored two points.

Jeremy Boykin had 14 points for the Dolphins. Michael Lee added 13 points.

Robertson was not happy with the loss, especially the way it came.

"I was disappointed in blowing the lead, but they didn't fully understand how things work," Robertson said talking about his freshman team. "We'll go back and get to work.

"We missed eight free throws down the stretch," he added. "If we would have made our free throws we would have won it."

Robertson said the Bulldogs missed free throws, lay-ups and turned the ball over too much in the loss.

"We have to get them to understand that every night we go out there we have to play our best because every team we play is a good team," he said.

Still, Robertson knows his players are still learning how to play his brand of winning basketball.

"We are a developmental squad," Robertson said. "We want them to adapt to our way of playing and our system.

"You have to play hard, fundamental basketball and you have to play defense," he added.

The Andalusia High School 9th-grade basketball team is slated to return to action on Thursday with a road game in Troy. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.

The Bulldogs are also scheduled to be on the road Thursday, Nov. 13 for a 6 p.m. game at Brantley.

The first home game is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 17 against Brantley with tipoff set for 6 p.m.