TROY - The effects of having not played a game in a week seemed to take its toll on Fort Dale Academy's slow start, but sophomore forward Casey Weston's 12 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth period helped secure a double-digit win for the Eagles on the road Thursday night.

Fort Dale erased a 16-10 deficit by the midway mark of the second period to take a 2-point lead by the half. The Eagles (3-4) then took advantage of a tiring Patriot team that was playing its third game in the past four days.

&uot;They executed very well with their rebounding,&uot; Patriots head coach Wesley Horne said. &uot;We had trouble with backside help all night. We didn’t rotate very well and they got a lot of second chances because of it. We’re thinking too slow – and the ball moves faster than our feet out there.”

Fort Dale outscored Pike 21-12 in the final period to seal the win.

Weston took over in the final eight minutes beating Pike Liberal off the dribble and driving to the basket for an easy shot. When the lane to the basket was closed, Weston settled for an easy jump shot.

&#8220I think the time off actually helped us because we were able to work on some things that we may not have been able to work on during the week with basketball games,” Weston said.

Davis Watts followed Weston with eight points, while Shane Lewis led Pike Liberal with 11.

— Troy Messenger Editor Ken Rogers contributed to this report.