Red Level utilized its bench Monday night to come out with a 24-point win over McKenzie, 75-51.

The Tigers (6-2) were without Kyle Nolen (due to knee injury) and Desmond Jones in the game, which was played in Red Level.

“We actually played well enough to win, but I don’t know if we played a complete ball game,” Red Level coach Fred Kelley said. “It was good to win. We had another player, Desmond Jones, out so we had to make use of our bench.

“We were able to make a couple of runs in the second quarter and into the third,” he said. “It was good to come back after the Greenville game to get a win and get back on track.”

Kelley said the reason why he thinks the team did not play a “complete ball game” was due to a lack of playing fundamental basketball.

“I just didn’t feel like we had the intensity from the first quarter through the fourth,” he said. “We know we’ve got to play good sound defense and offense. We’ve got to go out there and execute and we didn’t do it for four quarters.

“We’d execute and then we would slack up,” he said. “We’re trying to get that intensity game in and game out. That intensity level has to be there every night when we step on the floor or we are subject to take a loss.”

Kelley said his team played better in the second half, where the Tigers put up 37 points compared to McKenzie’s 35.

“The second half was our best half,” Kelley said. “I think probably toward the middle of the third quarter we were able to run some plays and do some things that we needed to have been doing.”

Kelley added that “bench” play has improved.

“Our bench is continuing to get better,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been trying to build since early in the season — a good strong bench. The last two games we’ve had to use it a lot. That’s been a big plus being able to utilize our bench strength.

“Overall, we were pleased, but we’re still making strides and trying to get better,” he said. “We’re still not there, but we’re trying to get there.”

Leading scorers for Red Level were Cale Nolen with 23 points and Matthew Bond with 18.

Red Level will be playing in the Straughn Christmas Shootout tomorrow night when they start off playing New Brockton at 6:30 p.m.

In girls action earlier Monday night, the Lady Tigers pulled out another win, beating McKenzie 50-13.

Lady Tigers coach Delores Douglas said the team “executed” well in the game.

“We shot the ball and ran our offense well,” Douglas said. “We’ve been trying a new offense and we executed that well, too. It was all around a pretty good game. We’re going to work on press breaking and executing well on that.”

Leading scorers for the Lady Tigers were Starla Jones and Koneshia Calloway who both scored 17 points.