Florala is still looking for a win this season as the Wildcats took a road loss to Samson Monday night, 74-52.

The Wildcats (0-8) were down eight points at halftime and, according to Florala coach Brad Garner, it was a close game until the third quarter.

“It was a six-to-eight-to-10 point ball game until about two minutes left to go in the third quarter,” Garner said. “We got in foul trouble — our same old nemesis and you know how bad that hurts our team. We just didn’t handle the press well and turned the ball over too much.”

Garner added his team’s main problem is making baskets.

“Right now, we’re not shooting the ball well at all,” he said. “At the end of the third, it was 58-39. We went from about a 10-piont deficit to 19 in a span of about two minutes.

“I think our biggest problem is when shots are challenged, meaning we’re not focusing on making the basket. We’re focusing on what’s going on around us. That’s what we’re going to do in practice to make them finish and letting people get in contact with them.”

Part of the reason Garner thinks his team is not making shots is “confidence.”

“I think it really is (a matter of confidence),” Garner said. “I think it’s the old adage, if you’re afraid you’re going to mess up, you probably will.

“You get that in your head that you take shots that are given and you miss them, it just becomes a mental thing.”

Garner said right now his team is a work in progress.

“The possibilities are there,” he said. “We seem to make a little progress in every game. We get a little bit better at executing defensively. We’re having to build our team from the ground up this year.

“We’re looking at a basketball season at three phases and we haven’t started phase one and that’s area play. I believe that if we work out these problems we’re having, we can be competitive and make some noise in (our area). Time is running short and we need to pick it up. We need to get a win before area to get rid of that mental block.”

Leading scorers for the Wildcats were Dustin Hinson with 11 points and Zac Fleming and Eric Bess who both had 10 points apiece.

In earlier action Monday night, the B-team boys lost 49-39. Leading scorer in that game was Colt Jackson with 20 points. In girls action, the Lady Wildcats lost 47-18.

Florala will travel to play county opponent Red Level this Friday night. Play starts at 4:30 p.m. with the B-team boys.