Tigers#039; tourney
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 9, 2005
This weekend the Greenville Tigers will once again be in control of their fate.
The Tigers, by virtue of defeating Eufaula two weeks ago to claim the regular season Area Championship, will host the Area 3 Championship Tournament beginning Friday.
The Tigers are matched-up with the Carroll(Ozark) Eagles in the first round. The Tigers and the Eagles have met twice this season with Greenville proving to be the better team.
"One of the toughest things to do in basketball is to beat a team three times," said Randy Fullington, coach of the Greenville Tigers.
"Just because the team that has won twice could get a little complacent and feel that game has been won before it has been played. And that's not a good thing. The team who's lost twice definitely doesn't want to lose a third time so they are going to come out with more fire than the first two times."
"The challenge is to keep your guys focused and have them play like they have never played them before. Carroll has a good team and a lot of talent, but they are just really, really young."
Their youth showed through this season by their team not winning an area game.
The Charles Henderson Trojans and the Eufaula Tigers will play for the right to meet the winner of the Greenville game on Feb. 14.
"Eufaula is a very dangerous team with two really good shooters and a dangerous postman," said Fullington.
"Charles Henderson has picked up another point guard, combined with their two big men, they are a very tough team to beat. Hopefully our home-court advantage will pay off for us Friday night. I'm anxious to see how Eufaula and Charles Henderson play out on a neutral court."
The winner of the regular season area championship gets to host the area tournament.
From there, the winner and runner-up of the area tournament will advance to the sub-regional tournament. In Area 3, the winner and runner-up will be matched up with the winner and runner-up of Area 4. Area 4 consists of Benjamin Russell, Valley, Russell County and Booker T. Washington. Following the one-game sub-regional playoff, the winner will earn a berth into the regional tournament held on the campus of Troy University.