PHS to host Alabama-Florida Shootout

Published 12:00 am Friday, January 1, 2010

Pleasant Home coach Jerry Davis said it’s going to be a “small school showdown” at the fourth annual Alabama-Florida Shoot-Out.

Today and tomorrow, two schools from Alabama will compete against two schools from Florida.

Pleasant Home, Florala High School, Baker (Fla.) High School and Laurel Hill (Fla.) High School are competing in the tournament.

The boys and girls will each play two games apiece in the tournament.

Davis said the date of the tournament can be “inconvenient,” but most teams are getting ready for area play anyway.

“Most everybody that comes back the following week will be starting area,” Davis said. “We’re just trying to match up small schools in Alabama against schools in northwest Florida.”

Florala’s girls team will start the tournament today against Baker at 3:30 p.m. and the boys will follow at 5. The Pleasant Home girls will start at 6:30 against Laurel Hill and the boys will end the first day at 8.

The last night, Pleasant Home will play Baker and Florala will play Laurel Hill at the same times.

Florala coach Brad Garner said it will benefit his team a lot.

“You get to play somebody you don’t play during the regular season and you get a little bit of a different look on Florida teams,” Garner said about the tournament. “They give you a different type of thing to prepare for and deal with. It’s good for us.”

The cost of admission is $5 per person per day.

Davis said the “key” for his team lies in the rebounding game.

“Right now, we’re 9-3 and we’re being destroyed on the boards,” he said. “I think the best thing is that we’re getting Josh Godwin back. He’s only played three games this year.”

Davis said he is not going to change anything up in preparation for the tournament.

“We’re very dependent on our outside game,” he said. “We’re trying to get post players healthy. We’ve had one with injuries and we’ve got to figure something out.”

For Florala, Garner said “rebounding” and “controlling tempo” are a must for his team.

“We’ve been competitive so far this season,” Garner said about only winning one game. “I’ve been proud of our kids. I don’t want us to get happy with moral victories. We’re looking forward to it and playing a few games before area.”

Davis said he hopes Alabama can hold out.

“I’d like to invite everybody out to see if Alabama can win this thing against Florida,” he said.