The end of the year may not be the best time to hold a basketball shoot out, but Pleasant Home boys coach Jerry Davis said it’s perfect because area play is right around the corner — literally.

“I think a lot of people look at it, and start seeing New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve and say, ‘Well, that’s a bad time,'” Davis said. “I can tell you right now the kids would rather play than practice. If we weren’t playing some games on Friday and Saturday, we’d be practicing anyway.”

The shoot out will consist of two boys and two girls teams from Alabama (Pleasant Home and Florala), and two boys and two girls teams from Florida (Baker and Laurel Hill).

Pleasant Home will play Laurel Hill today, and Baker on Saturday. Pleasant Home’s girls will play first each night at 6 p.m.

Florala will play Baker today; and Laurel Hill on Saturday, starting at 3 p.m. with the girls team, and the boys will tip off at 4:30 p.m. each day.

Davis said each Florida team has qualities that make them good opponents to play before area play starts.

“Laurel Hill is extremely quick,” he said. “They get a lot of fast break baskets on their defense.

“Baker will be a lot bigger than us and Florala,” he said. “They have decent guard play themselves.”

Davis said the main key for his team is to play “good defense.”

“We’ve had the break, and I hope we can get back to where we were a week and a half ago,” Davis said. “We can’t let people get cheap baskets. We’ve got to hold our own on the boards.

“We’ve got to play good defense, and we can’t give them second or third shots,” he said.

Cost of admission is $5 per person each day.