The Andalusia boy’s basketball team recently traveled up to Tuscaloosa where they competed in the University of Alabama’s summer team camp.

“With the number of players that we have playing football, June for basketball is pretty much our preseason,” Andalusia head basketball coach Anthony Clark said. “It was really important for us to have a good month of June.”

While at team camp, Clark said that the team went up against several bigger schools.

“That was something that I told my players going into it,” Clark said of playing bigger schools. “I feel like you aren’t really getting any better if you are playing down, or even playing teams at the same level. For that reason, we played in the 6A and 7A division.”

Clark said that even playing against the bigger schools that he was excited with how the Bulldogs performed.

“I was very pleased with the way we played,” Clark said. “We played eight games in about a 30 hour time period, and we only lost two of those games by double digits.”

The way the Bulldogs fought in the games is something that Clark said really impressed him.

“There were a few games where we got down by double digits in the first half,” Clark. “The guys never quit and they continued to fight back. We got right back in those games and ever took leads late in a few of them.”

Team camps and summer workouts are extremely important in more ways than one, Clark said.

“We had a really good rotation in the camp,” Clark said. “I was able to put some guys in situations that they normally wouldn’t be in. That’s something you can in do in June. You don’t want to go in to January experimenting. Team camp probably helped me out more than it did the kids. I learned what they could do, because this was really the first time that I’ve been able to see them in a live scrimmage.”

Another thing that Clark said has helped the team has been the combined workout of the football, baseball and basketball teams.

“Coach (Tyler) Dent, Coach (Trent) Taylor and myself are all working our players out using the same workout program,” Clark said. “They are all going through the same workout at 6 a.m., every morning. I’m very excited about being on a coaching staff where everyone is working together, cheering each other on and extremely supportive of one another.”

Clark also explained the importance of the month of June to his basketball team.

“A lot of my guys play football, so June is when we have to get our preseason stuff in,” Clark said. “They will finish up football on one week and then a few days later the basketball regular season starts. It’s very important for us to have a good month of June, and we have to have the base of what we are going to do already in place.”

Clark said that overall, he believes that the month of June was successful for the Bulldogs.

“I was really pleased at the way we competed at a high level,” Clark said. “I saw a lot of promising things from them. There were a lot of things I saw that are going to help us tremendously. June was very productive for us, and we got a lot of things accomplished. It’s good to see these things. It helps build team morale and hopefully it will bleed over into school morale.”