A visibly frustrated Opp coach Ronnie Sansom said it was not a good start for his team Thursday night as the Bobcats fell 59-29 to Luverne in the opening night of the 43rd Andalusia Invitational Tournament.

“You can’t shoot the ball that bad and expect to win,” Sansom said. “We just can’t do that. We had 12 turnovers in the first half, but we cut that down in the second half.”

The Bobcats only managed 11 points in the entire first half, compared to Luverne’s 30.

Luverne proved to be too much, outscoring Opp 15-10 in the third quarter and 14-8 in the fourth.

Sansom said somebody has to “step up inside” in order for his team to have some success.

“We’ve got to have some force on defense and offense inside and I’ve got to find what that combination is going to be,” he said. “We got too timid in there (under the net). Our shot selection — for the most part — was not bad, but when they’re not falling and we’re not getting rebounds, it’s not going to be a good night.”

Opp’s Gavin Free led the Bobcats with 18 points.

The Bobcats will face Florala tonight at 5 p.m. in the second day of the tournament.

Sansom said his team has to be ready for what Florala might throw at them.

“We’ve got to find something to build on from each game positively and negatively,” he said. “Hopefully we can get that done quickly because Florala is going to play us off our feet tomorrow night.”

The Andalusia-Florala game at 8 p.m. was not completed as of press time Thursday. Look for complete coverage of the tournament in Saturday’s edition of the Andalusia Star-News.