Andalusia made its first period play enough to last the rest of the game as the Bulldogs topped Opp 62-59 on Friday night.

After a good 19-7 start going into the second period, the Bulldogs were then outscored 52-43 in the final three periods by the Bobcats, who were celebrating their senior night.

“We took control early,” AHS coach Richard Robertson said. “From that point on (after the first period), they beat us the last three quarters. If we didn’t have the cushion we had in the first quarters, we wouldn’t have won.”

The Bobcats outscored Andalusia 14-13 in the second period to cut the lead to 32-21, and 16-13 in the third. OHS had its best eight minutes in the fourth when it put together a 22-17 effort.

Bobcats coach Sterling Driver said his boys started shooting pretty well early, but it went way from them.

“They started eating at us,” Driver said. “They got ahead there (in the first). We missed a couple shots early, and they used their transition to get out ahead of us.”

In the second period, Driver said he thought the boys did a good job of not letting the game get out of hand.

Opp’s JaKeith Edwards led the Bobcats with 16 points. Orlando Lacey chipped in 15 points, and Ty White had 13.

Andalusia’s Jayden Ellison had 16 points, DeVante Jackson had 13 points and Phillip James 12.

AHS kept its double-figured lead in the third period, but the Bobcats cut the game to 55-50 in the fourth.

Driver said at one point, the guys couldn’t get over a 6-point hump they were experiencing.

“The kids fought real hard,” the Opp coach said. “We couldn’t quite get over a 6-point hump toward the end. They did a godo job of contesting all of our inside shots. We had couple baskets that we wished we might have had.”

It’s not all doom and gloom for OHS, Driver said.

“It’s another good step toward our area tournament,” he said. “We’re just getting ready for the area tournament (at Straughn).

“(Andalusia) did a good job challenging us and I felt like, as a team, we got better,” he said.

Robertson said point blank, that Opp “whipped” his team for three quarters.

“We just whipped them enough in the first to survive the last three,” the Andalusia coach said.

In varsity girls action, the Lady Bobcats won 38-29.

Saquaya Lane led OHS with 25 points. Asia Edwards chipped in 6.

Andalusia’s D’Ashia Johnson led the Lady Bulldogs with 9 points.

In B-team action, Andalusia won 33-20.

Ke’Shun Townsend led AHS with 13 points. Opp’s Evan King scored 12.

Andalusia and Opp will be back in action on Friday night to start area tournament play.