Andalusia continues area play

Published 11:42 pm Thursday, January 15, 2009

Andalusia will try and stick to the game plan tonight as they host Clarke County the second of a two-game match up.

The last time the No. 2 Bulldogs met Clarke County was Jan. 2, the first area win for Andalusia, 65-57.

Earlier this week, Andalusia (15-2, 3-0 in Class 4A, Area 3) met and defeated Thomasville, 77-38.

Andalusia coach Richard Robertson said he will use a different “game plan” this game than what was used the first time they met on Jan. 2.

“I got one and the plan we used the first time was a good plan, but I’m saying that they are going to have something to counter it,” Robertson said. “You’ve got to always have an alternate plan if they do. I think they’ll have something to solve that.”

Robertson added in order for his team to be successful in their area, they need to win all six games.

“Either way, we need to win them all because I don’t want it to come down to like it was last year, a tiebreaker where we had to toss a coin even though we won it,” he said. “I want to do all mine on the court. We are in a tough region and even if we can get the No. 1 seed and still you’ve got to beat (Clarke County) in the tournament.

“Then, if you beat them in the tournament and get to the regionals, you still might meet some of them again,” he said. “We did that two years ago with T.R. Miller. We played them four times and they beat us three times.”

Going into the game tonight, Robertson said getting out to an early lead is essential.

“Right now, we’re going to work on beating the press and then we’re going to have a meeting and go over our inbound plays,” Robertson said. “We worked on defense a little bit (Wednesday) and then (today) I’ll come in and decide what we’re going to start. I’ve got a first half plan and a second half plan and if we can get away with the lead in the second half and get a new plan in because they’re going to go and make adjustments.

“We’ve used the same plan the last four ball games and when they go calling each other and comparing notes, they’re going to find out that I played a dime in the one in the second half.”

An alternate plan will be in the works tonight if Andalusia falls in a trap, according to Robertson.

“If something is working you don’t break it,” he said. “If it’s not broke don’t fix it. But, you’ve got to always have your alternate plan in case they have a plan for what you did to them the last time. (Clarke County) didn’t expect us to win the last time especially over there.

“They have a good basketball team. Either way we go if they won we’ve go to beat them and if Hillcrest won, then we’ve got to beat them. So, either way, we’ve got to win. We’re trying to get in the position that you don’t have a must win game.”

Tip off tonight is at 4:30 p.m. with the B-team.