Greenville used their obvious size advantage to its advantage Thursday to notch a needed win before the Tigers gear up for area tournament play that begins on Tuesday.

Greenville was able to crash the boards and keep Brantley at bay for an easy 98-71 victory over Brantley.

&#8220I'm very proud of our efforts, but they just out-rebounded us,” Brantley Bulldogs' coach Andrew Kilcrease said of the Bulldogs' fall to the Greenville High School Tigers Thursday night. &#8220We just allowed them to get too many shots at the basket.”

The Tigers jumped out ahead 28-18 at the end of the first period, and they never looked back. After a sluggish first half, the Tigers were up 49-34.

However,

the Bulldogs gained momentum during the third quarter, scoring six points all within one minute against the Tigers to close the gap 49-41.

With 2:19 left in the third quarter, Brantley began to trail further behind again, 52-65.

The Bulldogs' Rashad Smiley drained two 3-pointers at the very end of the third quarter, bringing the score to 60-74, with the Tigers still in the lead.

But during the fourth period, things started falling apart for the Bulldogs as the Tigers pulled away with a 98-71 win.

High scorers for Greenville included Isiah Mack with 20 points, three goals of which were slam dunks. Josh Hawkins had 16 points, and Micheal Peagler added 15.

High scorers for the Bulldogs were Rashad Smiley with 28 points, Kevin Pitts with 13, and Dexter Daniels with 10.

The Bulldogs' season record is 16-7, and they are 6-2 for the area.